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(Boy Scout Camera Club) (Chapter X XT) 


* hibg THE 


Boy Scout Caméra Club 


The Confession of a Photograph 


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By 
Scout Master G. Harvey Ralphson 


Chicago 
M. A. DONOHUE & COMPANY 


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Chapter 


CONTENTS 


Lost: A Foreren Prince! 

Tue Hout In THE Attic FLOOR 
WuatT THE Box CONTAINED 

A Camp IN THE MouNTAIN 
JIMMIE AND TEppy Miss a Mra 
SIGNALS IN THE CANYON 

A Mint In THE MovunrtaINs 
Unevie Ike Presents HIMSELF 
A Lank MULE as a Decoy .. 
‘“PackED AWAY LIKE SARDINES” 
JACK’s ELEGANT CHICKEN. PIE 
Tue Buack HAND GAME. 
THREE Days To Move In 
Pointinc Out THE TRAIL 

A NIGHT ON THE SUMMIT 

THE CALL OF THE Pack 

Just A Litrue Dark WasH 
BRADLEY BEcoMES INDIGNANT 
Nep PiLays THE Minp-READER 
SHOOTING ON THE MOUNTAINSIDE 
ToLp BY THE PICTURES 

A REcRUIT FROM THE ENEMY 
Racina Motors oN THE WAy 
Tue Man-Trapr Is Ser 


THE CONFESSION OF A PHOTOGRAPH 


107 
iB 
127 
136 
146 


. 156 


166 


Se 3, 


185 
195 
205 


. 214 
. 223 


232 


. 241 


The Boy Scout Camera Club 


or 


The Confession of a Photograph 


CHAPTER I 
LOST: A FOREIGN PRINCE! 


“Two Black Bears!”’ 

“Two Wolves!” 

“Three Eagles!’ 

“Five Moose!’ 

“Quite a mixture of wild creatures to be 
found in a splendid clubroom in the city of New 
York!’ exclaimed Ned Nestor, a handsome, 
muscular boy of seventeen. “‘How many of 
these denizens of the forests are ready to join 
the Boy Scout Camera Club?” 

“You may put my name down twice—in red 
ink!” shouted Jimmie McGraw, of the Wolf 
Patrol. ‘I wouldn’t miss it to be president of 
the United States!” 

“One Wolf,’”? Ned said, writing the name 
down. 

“Two Wolves!” cried Jimmie, red-headed, 
freckled of face and as active as a red squirrel, 


$8 THE BOY SCOUT CAMERA CLUB; OR 


“two wolves! You’re a Wolf yourself, Ned 
_.. Nestor!’ . | 

“Two Wolves, then!’ laughed Ned. “Of 
course Jimmie and I can form a club all by 
ourselves, and he can be the officers and I can 
be the members, but we’d rather have a menag- 
erie of large size, aS we are going into the 
mountains of Virginia, West Virginia, North 
Carolina, Kentucky and Tennessee.”’ 

The boys who had not yet spoken were on 
their feet in an instant, all clamoring for mem- 
bership in the Boy Scout Camera Club. Ned 
lifted a hand for silence. | 

‘Why this present rush?” he asked. “I’ve 
been thinking that Jimmie and I would have to 
go to the mountains alone! Why this im-. 
petuosity?”’ 

“The mountains!’ shouted Frank Shaw, of 
the Black Bear Patrol. “It is the mountains 
that get us! We've been thinking that the club 
you were organizing wouldn’t get outside of 
little old New York, but would loaf around 
taking snap-shots of the slums and the trees in 
the parks. But when you mention mountains, 
why ” 

“T’m going right down stairs and pack my 
camera!’ Jack Bosworth, of the Black Bear 
Patrol, declared. ‘‘When it comes to moun- 
TAS) ae 


CONFESSION OF A PHOTOGRAPH g' 


The clubroom of the Black Bear Patrol was: 
on the top floor of the handsome resicence of 
Jack’s father, who was a famous corporation. 
lawyer, and the boys persuaded Jack to wait: 
until they had completed the organization of 
the Camera Club before he started in packing 
for the journey to the mountains! 

“You'll want an Eagle, if you’re going to 
the mountains!’ shouted Teddy Green, of the 
Eagle Patrol. ‘‘TI’ll fly home and get my ward- 
robe right now!’ 

Teddy Green was the son of a Harvard pro- 
fessor, and was inclined to follow in the footsteps 
of his father in the matter of learning—after he 
had first climbed to all the high spots of the world 
and descended into all.the low ones! He in- 
sisted on exploring the earth before he learned 
by rote what others had written about it! 

“All right!’ Ned grinned. “ We’ll need an 
Eagle!’’ 

“And a Bull Moose!” yelled Oliver Yentsch, 
of the Moose Patrol. ‘‘You’ve got to have a 
Moose along with you!’ 

Oliver was the son of a ship builder, and had 
-alaunch and a yacht of his own. He was liked 
by all his associates in spite of his tendency to 
grumble at trifles. However, if he complained 
at small things, he met large troubles with a 
_smile on his bright face. He now seized Teddy 


Ps / 
fp 


10 THE BOY SCOUT CAMERA CLUB; OR 


about the waist and waltzed around the room 
with him. . . 

“And that’s all!’ Ned decided, closing the 

book. ‘“‘ We can’t take more than six.” 

A wail went up from the others, but they were 
promised a chance at the next “hike” into the 
hills, and soon departed, leaving the six members 
of the Camera Club to perfect arrangements for 
their departure. It was a warm May night, 
still Ned closed the door leading out into the 
wide corridor which ran through the house on 
that floor. 

“We can’t afford to take others into our 
plans,” he said, ‘‘for this is to be another Secret. 
Service expedition.” / 

“For the Government?” demanded Frank 
Shaw. ‘‘Then,” he added, without waiting for 
a reply, “Tl call up dad’s editorial rooms and 
have a reporter sent up here. Top of column, 
first page, illustrated! That’s our Camera Club 
in the morning newspaper!’’ 

Frank’s father was owner and editor of one 
of the big New York dailies, and the boy 
always took along, on his trips, plenty of blank 
paper for ‘“‘copy,”’ but never sent ina line! His. 
letters to his father’s newspaper were usually 
addressed to the financial department, upon 
which he had permission to draw at will! 

“Huh!” Jimmie commented, wrinkling his 


CONFESSION OF A PHOTOGRAPH iI 


freckled nose, “if you should ever furnish an 
item for your daddy’s newspaper he’d never 
live it down! You’ve been on all our trips with 
Ned, and never wired in a word!” | 

The Boy Scouts of the Black Bear and Wolf 
Patrols had been through many exciting ex- 
periences with Ned Nestor, who, young as he 
was, was often in the employ of the Secret 
Service department of the United States govern- 
ment. Frank, as Jimmie said, had been with 
Ned from the start, and had never sent in a line 
of “copy” for the paper. 

“Tm going to furnish a column a day this 
trip!’ Frank declared, making a motion to seize 
Jimmie. ‘“‘We’re going to take pictures, aren’t 
we? We'll take ’em by the acre, and dad’s 
newspaper is going to catch every one of them.”’ 

“Huh!” Jimmie declared, with a freckled nose 
in the air. ‘I’m a newspaper man, too. You 
needn’t think you’re the only cherry in the pie! 
I used to sell newspapers before I got into the 
Secret Service with Ned!’ | 

From) his earliest years Jimmie had indeed 
been a newsboy on the Bowery. He had never 
had a home except that provided by himself, 
and this, in the early days of his life, had as 
often been a box or barrel in an alley as anything 
else. 
_ “Why the mountains?” asked Frank Shaw, 


is Pe 
TF Pea Pe: 


12 THE BOY SCOUT CAMERA CLUB; OR 


presently. ‘‘Do you have to go to the hills 
on this trip? I’m glad if you do, of course, but 
I’d like to know something about it before we 
start. Dad will have to be shown this time, I 
reckon! He thinks we rather overdid the stunt 
when we went to Lady Franklin bay!” 

“Never had so much fun in my lie!”’ laughed 
Jimmie. ‘“ When you get where it is forty below, 
there’s some delight in living!’ 

“What are we going to take pictures of?” 
demanded Teddy Green. 

‘“‘Moonshiners!”’ laughed Frank. “Isn’t that 
right, Ned?’’ 

“Not exactly,” was the answer. “This is 
not a whisky case at all.” 

“Counterfeiters, then? queried Oliver. 
“They live in the hills!’ 

“No, not counterfeiters, either,” Ned re- 
plied. ‘‘The government has plenty of men 
to look after counterfeiters and moonshiners. 
All we’ve got to do is to go into the mountains 
and take pictures, and keep our eyes open.” 

“Open for what?’ insisted Jimmie. ‘My 
peepers will be open for a venison steak about 
the first thing! You remember how fine the 
venison steaks were up in British Columbia? 
That Columbia river trip was some exciting! 
What?” 

“Well,”’ Ned began, “you all know that I’m 


CONFESSION OF A PHOTOGRAPH 13 


in the Secret Service, for you’ve been with me, 
some of you, at Panama, in China, and under 
the ocean, so we'll let the details go without 
explanation. I’m going to the mountains to 
look after a precious package stolen from Wash- 
ington—from almost under the eyes of the 
president—three days ago!”’ 

“Papers?” asked Jimmie. “You know we 
went to Lady Franklin bay after papers.” 

“And they think the mountaineers stole this 
package?” asked Oliver. 

“Tell us what it was that was taken first!’’ 

insisted Frank. “I’m beginning to see a front- 
page story in this, right now!’’ 
“The package stolen,’? Ned went on, with a 
' smile, “was more precious than any bundle of 
_ papers could be! It wasn’t of gold, silver, dia- 
monds, or anything possessing that kind of 
value. It was of flesh and blood!” 

‘““A child stolen!” cried Frank. ‘This goes 
to dad’s sheet right now!’’ 

“Boy or girl?” asked Oliver. “Age, please!’ 

“Boy,” answered Ned. “A boy belonging 
to one of the ambassadors! Age seven!’’ 

“But why should the mountaineers steal such 
a child?” asked Jimmie. 

“T said the boy belonged to one of the am- 
bassadors,’”’ Ned corrected himself. “I should 
have said he pe recd at one of the foreign 
embassies.” 


\ 


14 THE BOY SCOUT CAMERA CLUB; OR 


“The son of one of the attaches?” asked 
Teddy. “That’s strange! Why?” 

“Teddy,” reproved Jimmie, “you can ask 
more questions in a minute than a motion 
picture machine can take in a hundred years.” 

“The stolen boy is in no ways related to any 
one in this country,’ Ned answered, “yet his’ 
safety 1s of the utmost importance. It is up 
to us to find him.” 

“But why should the mountain men make a 
grab at a kid?” insisted Jimmie. “I’ve asked 
that question numerous times how,” he added, 
with a wrinkled nose. 

“Tt is not believed that the mountain men 
know anything about the matter,’’ Ned replied. 
‘No one suspects them of taking the child. 
Mountain men are not up to that sort of thing, 
as a rule. They will make moonshine—some 
of them will—and may hide a counterfeiter, but 
they don’t steal children!” 

_ “Then who did steal him?” asked Frank. 
“Don’t be so mysterious.” 

“T want the matter to sink deep into your 
alleged minds!’ was Ned’s smiling rejoinder, 
“and that is the reason I’m drawing the ex- 
planation out. It is thought the boy was 
stolen by some one who came over the sea to do 
the job—some one never before in this country.” 

“T twig!’ Jimmie declared, skipping about 


CONFESSION OF A PHOTOGRAPH 15 


theroom. ‘‘Thestolen boy is next of succession 

- to some measly old throne! What? And he was 
sent out here to get him out of the zone of 
danger, and now he’s been nipped?”’ 

The boys looked at Ned with redoubled inter- 
est. It had been interesting, the very idea of 
going into the mountains in quest of an abducted 
child, but the thought of going after a boy who 
would one day be a king! That was exciting 
indeed! 

~“T can’t tell you who the boy is,’’ Ned went 

on, “but I can tell you that he must be found! 

- The Secret Service men at Washington have a 

pretty good idea as to who got him, and they 

believe the criminals are not above committing 

the crime of murder. In a certain sense, this 
boy is in the way in the old country!” 

“Oh, they wouldn’t kill a kid like that!” 
Jimmie asserted. 

“Wouldn’t they?’ demanded Teddy Green. 

_ “Tf you read up on history, you’ll soon find out 
whether ambitious men will murder children 
who stand in their way! I half believe the boy 
was murdered at the very moment he wastaken!’’ 

“‘He has been seen alive since that time,” 
Ned responded. ‘‘This is Thursday. He was 
taken on Monday, and was seen yesterday. Or 
a boy believed to be the prince was seen yester- 

_ day, on a launch on the Potomac river.” 


I6 THE BOY SCOUT CAMERA CLUB; OR 


“Prince, eh?” cried Frank. “It is a prince, 
is it? Say, but won’t dad be glad to hear about 
this? I'd like to write the headlines!” 

“We may as well call him the prince,” Ned 
laughed. | 

Before more could be said, a servant knocked 
at the door and Jack opened it so as to look out. 
In a moment he turned back inside with a 
flushed face. 

“Say, boys,” he said, ‘‘there’s cormenene 


strange going on here to-night!” 


— 


CONFESSION OF A PHOTOGRAPH 17 


~n 


CHAPTER II 
THE HOLE IN THE ATTIC FLOOR 


Ned sprang to his feet in an instant and 
beckoned Jack to one side. The others gathered 
around, but Ned motioned them back. 

“Let us find out exactly what Jack means 
before any remarks are made,” he said. 

“Well,” Jack began, almost in a whisper, 
‘the servant who came to the door said i 

“Wait a moment!’ Ned requested. “Let us 
get this at first hand. Is the servant you refer 
to still out in the corridor? Look and see.”’ 

Jack opened the door an inch and looked out. 

“Yes,” he reported, facing Ned, with the door 
still ajar, “‘he is still there.”’ 

“Then ask him to come in here,’ Ned sug- 
gested, “‘and you, boys,” he added, turmaing to 
the wondering faces at the other side of the 
apartment, ‘“‘you get as close as you wish while 
this man is talking, but don’t interrupt. It 
may be that we shall have to do something right 
soon. I reckon our hunt for the prince starts 
right here, in the Black Bear Patrol clubroom, 
in the heart of little old New York. 

- The servant Jack had beckoned to now 
entered the room and stood with his back to the 


18 THE BOY SCOUT CAMERA CLUB; OR 


door, looking from one boyish face to another. 
He was a heavily built, muscular fellow, evi- 
dently an Irishman, judging from his face and 
manner. 7 

“Will you kindly come over here and sit 
down?” Ned asked. 

The servant complied and the others gathered 
\ around him. 

“Now,” Jack began, ‘‘ tell Ned what you just 
told me—about the man in the attic, and about 
the hole in the ceiling.” 

Every eye in the room was instantly turned 
toward the lofty ceiling, but nothing out of the 
ordinary was to be seen there. 

“The hole he refers to,” Jack, smiling, ex- 
plained, “is not in sight. It is under the orna- 
mental brass piece that circles the rod from 
which the chandelier hangs. It was made to 
listen at, and not to see through, I take it!” 

“That on a good starter,’ Ned smiled, 

‘so go on.’ 

‘Half an hour ago,” the servant began, “I 
was called to this floor by one of the maids, 
Mary Murphy it was, and she was that scared 
she looked like a bag of flour! She pointed to 
the staircase leading to the attic and asked me 
to go up there. 

‘“‘So I says to her: ‘Why do you want me to go 
up there? If there’s a haunt there, or a burglar, 


~ 


CONFESSION OF A PHOTOGRAPH _ 19 


or a man after one of the girls, why should I 
risk the precious neck of me, when it’s the only 
one I’ve got, with no prospect of ever getting 
another in case this one: was damaged beyond 
repair?’ So she says to me, she says——” 

“Never mind what she said,’”’ Ned interrupted, 
fearful of a long, involved dialogue between the 
two servants. ‘Tell me what you did.” 

“JT went up the staircase, three steps at a 
jump, an’ bumped the head of me on the edge > 
of the door at the top of it. You can see the’ 
dent in my coco now!” 

“ And what did you find there?”’ asked Ned. 

“There was a rug on the floor and a hole in 
the floor, and a twinkle of light shining into the 
attic from this room. Some one had been 
listening there!’ 

“You saw no one?” 

“Never asoul! I’m that sorry I can’t express 
it!’ 

“When were you in that attic before—the 
last time before to-night?” 

“Tate yesterday afternoon it was.” 

“Was there a rug in the middle of the floor at 
that time?’ Ned went on. 

“No more than there is a bold lion in the 
middle of this floor, sir.” 

“Well, what did you do after you got up there 
to-night?” 


20 THE BOY SCOUT CAMERA CLUB; OR 


‘“‘T hunted around for the man who had been 
lying there listening to the talk in this room, but 
J didn’t find him, sir.” 

“Did you ascertain where all the servants 
were at the time the listening must have been 
going on?”’ asked Jack, after a short pause. 

“‘ All but one,” was the reply. 

‘And that one? Whereis he now? That is, 
tell, if you know where he is?” sae 

“JT don’t know, sir. He has left the house, I 
reckon—bag and baggage.” 

“Who was it?” demanded Jack, moving to- 
ward the door. 

-“Chang Chu, the Chink, may the Evil One 
get into his bed!” 

‘“‘ And then you came here and notified Jack?” 
asked Ned. “As soon as you learned that 
Chang Chu was not in the house?” 

“Indeed I did—within a minute and a half.” 

“Where is this girl, Mary Murphy?” asked 
Ned, turning to Jack. ‘‘We must get hold of 
her right away. I want to hear her story of 
what she saw in the attic.” 

Jack went out of the room, but was back in a 
minute with the girl, a pretty, modest maid of 
about eighteen. She looked frightened at find- 
ing herself the center of interest, but was soon 
in the midst of her story. | 

‘“‘T went up to the attic to get a piece of cloth 


‘CONFESSION OF A PHOTOGRAPH _ 2I 


for a bandage, Sally having cut her hand with 
the bread knife. When I got to the door of 
that room I heard some one inside of it. I 
listened at the crack there is between the panel 
and the stile and heard footsteps, slow and soft 
like. I thought it was one of the maids, and 
- opened the door quick, so as to give her a scare.”’ 

The girl paused and wiped her face with a 
white apron bordered with pink. 

“Go on,” Ned requested. ‘Tell us what you 
saw in the attic.” 

“It wasn’t much, sir,’ was the agitated 
answer. ‘I saw just a flash of dark blue, com- 
ing at me like the lightning express, and then I 
was keeled over—just as if I had been a bag of 
meal, sir!’ 

“He bunted into you, did he?” asked Jack. 
“Who was it?” 

“Indeed I don’t know, sir,” was the reply. 
“It was dim in the room, there being only the 
light from the hall as I opened the door. Then 
he came at me with such a bunt that it took the 
breath out of me body!” 

“And what followed?” asked Ned. | 

_“She wint down f’r the count!” chuckled the 
servant who had been first questioned. 

“T did not!”’ was the indignant retort. “‘ When 
I got up the man was still on the stairs leading 
to this floor, and I picked up the great shears 


22 THE BOY SCOUT CAMERA CLUB; OR 
RE RE EE A ES 


which had tumbled out of me hand and heaved 
thim at him. I had brought the shears up to 
cut a bandage, sir.” 

“Did you hit him?” asked Jack with a smile. 
‘ “Where are the shears?” 

“IT never went back after them!’ answered 
the girl. “T’ll go this minute.”’ | 

“Wait,” Ned said, ‘‘and I’ll get them. Now, 
you say you saw a blue streak coming at you, 
head-on! Who wears blue clothes around the 
house?” 

“Chang Chu, the Chink, sir.” 

‘You saw him dressed in blue to-day?” asked 
Ned. 

‘All in blue he was!” the male servant inter- 
rupted, “with his shirt on the outside of his 
trousers, like the bloody heathen he is.” 

‘And so you looked for him and failed to find 
him on the premises?” asked Jack. 

“He’s gone, bag and baggage,’ answered 
Terance, the coachman. “Bad luck to him!” - 

“Still you don’t really know that it was the 
Chinaman?”’ asked Ned. 

‘“‘He was dressed like the Chink,” was the 
‘reply. ‘‘He smelled like a saloon!’ 

“Does the Chinaman drink?” asked Ned, 
facing Terance. ‘Does he get drunk?”’ 

“He does not,” was the reply. “He doesn’t 
know the taste of good liquor!” ahee 


‘CONFESSION OF A PHOTOGRAPH 23 


“That’s all,’ Ned concluded. ‘Now you 
two keep on looking for the Chinaman. He 
may be hiding in the house, or he may be at 
some of the dens such people frequent. You, 
Mary, look for him in the house, and you, 
Terance, see if you can learn where he usually 
went when he left the house.” 

“Pell street!’ cried Jimmie. . ‘‘ Look in Pell 
street!”’ 

“Or Doyers!”’ Jack exclaimed. “Look in the 
dumps in Doyers street.”’ 

The two went away, forgetting all about the 
shears which Mary had hurled at the mysterious 
‘man she had caught in the attic. Asking the 
boys to remain where they were, Ned went out 
to the staircase and secured the article. Tak- 
ing it carefully by the handle, he returned to the 
room and held up one blade. 

Jack looked at the blade casually at first, 
then cried out that there was blood on it, and 
that Mary had speared the sneak. 

“Ves,” Ned explained, ‘‘there is blood on it. 
Mary hit the fellow on the head with this blade. 
What else do you see on the steel?” he asked 
with a smile. 

Jimmie looked and backed away in disgust. 
His freckled face was thrust out of the door for 
an instant, and they heard him calling to Mary, 
who, being in the kitchen, beyond sound of his 
voice, did’ not respond. | 


24 THE BOY SCOUT CAMERA CLUB; OR 


“What do you want of Mary?” demanded 
Jack. ‘Shall I call her?” 

‘“‘She said it was the Chink, didn’t she?” the 
boy asked. ‘‘Or, she said it was a man dressed 
like the Chink? Well, it wasn’t the Chink.” 

Ned laughed and looked at the boy admiringly. 

“How do you know that?” he asked. “Why 
are you so sure it.was not the Chink?” 

Jimmie looked up into Ned’s face with a pro- 
voking grin. 

“You know just as well as I do that it wasn’t 
the Chink,” he said. “Just you look on that 
blade again! Ever see a Chink with light 
brown hair?” 

“Now, what do you think of that?” roared 
Jack. ‘‘Sometimes this boy, Jimmie, seems to 
me to be possessed of almost human intelligence!” 

The lads gathered closer around the shears, 
one blade of which Ned was still holding out for 
inspection. There was the blood, and there was 
the long, blonde hair! 

“Hit him on the belfry!” Jimmie grinned. 
“Knocked off a shingle and brought away a 
piece of it! Now, why did the Chink run aways 
That’s what I’d like to know!” 

“Where did the man get the Chink’s dress?” 
asked Oliver. “That’s what you’d better be 
asking? Why did the Chink let him in and 
then loan him the dress?” 


CONFESSION OF A PHOTOGRAPH 25 


“T rather think that’s why the Chinaman 
ran away!” laughed Ned. “You boys seem to 
have reasoned it all out. He might have let 
the sneak in and then let him have some of his 
own clothes to wear! And that will make 
trouble for us!’ © 

“Do you think the fellow heard about the 
Camera Club trip, and the object of it?” asked 
Oliver. ‘If he was scared away half an hour 
ago he didn’t learn much, for we hadn’t begun 
to talk much about it at that time!’ 

“He may not have heard anything im- 
portant,’’ Ned replied, “but the fact that he 
was sent here to listen is significant! Some one 
in Washington knows that we have been chosen’ 
to search the mountains for the prince! Some 
one knows that we are going out as an innocent- 
looking Boy Scout Camera Club, but really to 
find the boy. Now, what will that person do to 
the Camera Club, after we get out into the 
mountains?” | 

“The question in my mind,” Jimmie broke 
in, “is what we shall do to him!” 

“T’m sorry the information about our going 
leaked out,’’ Ned said, gravely. “As boy snap- 
shot: friends we might have been able to do 
things which the Secret Service men could not 
do. No one would pay.much attention to a 


26 THE BOY SCOUT CAMERA CLUB; OR 


group of boys roaming over the mountains. 
But now I’m afraid our investigations will be | 
all in the limelight!’ 

“Tell you what,” Jimmie cut in, ‘suppose 
we find the Chink and make him point out the 
man who was in the house—listening?” 


% 


CONFESSION OF A PHOTOGRAPH 27 


f CHAPTER III 
WHAT THE BOX CONTAINED 


“All right,’’ Oliver encouraged. “Let’s go 
out and make a throw at finding him, anyway! 
He may be in the garage, or the carriage house 
right this minute.”’ 

Jimmie and Oliver rushed away to find 
Terance, the coachman, and undertake the 
search suggested, while Ned, Jack, Frank and 
Teddy sat at the open windows looking out on 
the street. 

“Chang Chu was at liberty to go into the 
attic at any time?” asked Ned, tentatively. 

“Oh, yes,” Jack answered, ‘“‘ the other servants 
sent him about on errands. He is a handy man 
about the premises—or was, rather.” 

“Ts he a man to do such a thing as we are 
accusing him of?” Ned then asked. 

“T never thought so,’’ was the puzzled reply. 
“T hope you don’t think that he was beaten up 
by the man who secured his blue clothes! That 
would be tough on the fellow.” 

“T have been thinking of that,’ Ned re- 
sponded, ‘‘and while the boys are looking for 
the Chinaman in the outbuildings suppose we 
look for him in the upper part of the house.” 


28 THE BOY SCOUT CAMERA CLUB; OR 


“But if the sneak could get into the upper 
part of the house without the use of the dis- 
guise,’ reasoned Jack, “he wouldn’t need it at 
all, would he?” 

“He might have been surprised while at work 
by the Chinaman,” Ned suggested. ‘In that 
case he might have taken the clothes as an after- 
thought. Suppose we look and see?”’ 

Leaving Frank and Teddy sitting by the 
window, looking out on a perfect May night, 
Ned and Jack climbed the staircase to the 
attic and entered the room directly over the 
Black Bear Patrol clubroom. It was a large 
room, more of a storeroom than an attic, with 

a hardwood floor and papered walls and ceiling. 
' A great sack upon which clothing and odds 
and ends of all descriptions were hanging stood 
at the south end of the apartment, while a long 
row of boxes and packing trunks occupied the 
floor at the north end. ‘The rug, which had been 
thrown down on the floor near the hole bored 
through a plank, was still there where the 
servants had seen it. The listener had, at least, 
a good notion of personal comfort! 

“Where was this rug taken from?” asked Ned. 

“It was on the rack the last time I saw it,” 
Jack answered. 

‘Was it clean at that time?” Ned continued, 
examining the rug with a glass. 


CONFESSION OF A PHOTOGRAPH 29 


“What do you mean by clean? It was dusty, 
of course, like everything else here.” 

“Were there any stains on it—stains like 
blood?” Ned went on, dragging the rug under 
the electric lights which had been switched on. 

“Why, of course not. It was originally in 
the little den off the library, but father became 
tired of it and told Terance to bring it here.”’ 

“How long ago was that?” 

“Oh, a month or two. I can’t be exact as 
to the date, you know.”’ 

Ned handed his chum the glass and indicated 
a certain portion of the rug. 

“What do you call that?” he asked. ‘What 
does it look like?” 

* “Tt looks like a spot of blood,” Jack declared. 
“ And it is wet, too! What do you make of this, 
Ned? Was Chang Chu attacked and killed by 
that sneak thief?” 

“That is for us to find out,’’ Ned answered. 
“At the present moment, it looks as if Chang 
Chu wouldn’t be found on Pell or Doyers street. 
What is there is those boxes—the large ones 
sitting ‘against the wall?” 

“ About everything, I take it. I never looked 
into them. Why?” 

“We may as well see what they contain,” 
Ned replied, advancing to the largest box and 
throwing up the cover. ‘What do you think 


30 THE BOY SCOUT CAMERA CLUB; OR 


now?” he asked, as a huddled figure stirred in 
the box and opened a pair of suffering eyes. 
‘This is the Chink, I suppose?”’ 3 

Before Jack could reply, Ned had the man out 
of the box, with the cords cut from his hands and 
feet, the cruel gag removed from his mouth. 
His blue blouse was gone! Chang Chu tumbled 
over on the floor when Ned tried to stand him 
on his feet. There was a small cut on his head. 

“Chang velly much bum!’ he said, with his 
hands on his stomach. . 

“Chang never forgets a word of slang,” Jack 
laughed. ‘“‘He will remember the slang word 
for anything when he forgets the real word! 
_ What did they do to you, Chang?” he continued, 
addressing the Chinaman. 

Chang pressed his hands to his nose signifi- 
cantly and dropped his head back. 

‘Chloroform!’ Net declared, sniffing at the 
contents of the box. | 

The Chinaman could not describe the man 
who had attacked him. He had been alone in 
the attic, putting away old clothes, when he 
had been struck and seized from behind by a — 
man he described as a giant for strength, stripped 
of his blouse, and lifted bodily mto the box. 
There he had been bound, gagged and rendered 
unconscious by the use of the drug. 

“The man who did it,’”’ mused Ned, “is an 


CONFESSION OF A PHOT OGRAPH. eS 


adept at crime, resourceful, daring. The chloro- 
form would have attracted the attention of the 
servants at once if it had been administered in 
the open air. Then his taking the Chink’s 
blouse as a disguise shows that he is quick to 
take advantage of his opportunities. A clever 
man.” 

“And he left no clue!’ Jack complained. 
“Just our luck, Ned!’ 

“All. we know is that he is tall, has light 
brown hair, and is very strong,” Ned replied. 
‘“But there are ten thousand people in New 
York this minute who answer to that descrip- 
tion.” | 

“How do you know he is tall?” demanded 
Jack. 

_ “When he lay on the rug,” Ned explained, 

“he stretched out on his stomach to look through 
the hole, if he could. He couldn’t; he could 
only listen, for the cut was made so as to be 
hidden by the ornamental brass piece that circles 
the rod from which the chandelier swings. The 
marks of his elbows and toes were on the soft 
fiber of the rug, showing him to be a man at 
least. six feet tall.” 

Ned walked over to the large box again and 
bent over it. | 

“Crumbs!” he exclaimed, in a_ second, 
“Crumbs!” | 


32 THE BOY SCOUT CAMERA CLUB; OR 


‘Then he must have brought a lunch up with 
him,”’ Jack exclaimed excitedly. ‘There is no 
knowing how long he was here!’’ 

“Some one in Washington has leaked!’ Ned 
declared, angrily. 

“Why Washington?” demanded Jack. ‘‘W 
not New York?” 

‘Because no one in this city knows about our 
being engaged to hunt down the abductor. My 
instructions have all come in cypher, and some 
of them have, as you know, been addressed to 
this house. And there you are!’ 

Chang Chu arose limply, rubbing a small 
wound in his head from which blood had come, 
and tottered off toward the staircase. As he 
did so, Ned noticed that his pigtail was very 
black, very long, and very greasy. 

“Did he take you by the cue?”’ asked the boy. 
“Did he pull your hair?” 

—“Velly much lough-neck pull—dam!” an- 
swered the Chinaman. 

Ned went back to the box where the Chink 
had been hidden and began taking out the 
articles it held, slowly and one by one. 

“The cloth he poured the chloroform on must 
be here,” he said. ‘‘He would naturally throw 
it into the box before shutting down the cover, as 
there might still be enough of the drug in it to 
put the Chink to sleep.” 


CONFESSION OF A PHOTOGRAPH 33 


“Here it is,’ Jack said, reaching into the 
box and lifting out a rag and smelling of it. 
“Here is ote dope cloth, all right and prevey 
strong yet.’ 

“That’s it, all right,’ Ned answered. “A 
worn white handkerchief, eh?” — 

“Name or mark on it?” asked Jack, passing 
the cloth to Ned. 

“Nothing of the sort,” was the answer, “but 
there’s something better. When the fellow 
pulled at the Chink’s greasy pigtail he got his 
hand smeared with oil. Then he grasped this 
white cloth fiercely, and there you are! See! 
The mark of the thumb couldn’t be plainer if it 
had been printed on. Observe the long cicatrice 
on the ball of the thumb? I'll take this down 
and photograph it.” 

“Tall, strong, blonde, scar on the thumb!” 
laughed Jack. ‘We are getting on.” 

“It would be interesting to know how he got 
into the house,” Ned mused. 

“If we could only catch him and shut his 
mouth,” Jack muttered, ‘‘we wouldn’t have such 
a rotten bad time in the mountains.”’ 

“Tt is not what he knows,” Ned suggested. 
“Tt is what his master as Washington knows. 
We might put this chap under ten feet of earth, 
but the opposition from Washington would go 
right on.” 


34 THE BOY SCOUT CAMERA CLUB; OR 


“When was the child abductéd?” asked Jack. 
_ “When and how?” 

“He was taken from in front of the embassy 
early in the morning. The ambassador brought 
him out for a spin in his automobile and left 
him out in front a moment. When he went 
back to continue his morning ride the auto- 
mobile and the boy were nowhere to be seen! 
This was before nine o’clock Monday morning. 
Yesterday, along about noon, the boy—or a 
lad very much resembling him—was seen by a 
lieutenant of infantry in a motor boat, speeding 
up the Potomac.” 

“Why didn’t he catch him, then?” asked Jack. 

‘‘Beacuse he did not know at that time that 
the prince had been kidnapped. ‘The author- 
ities kept everything quiet! I presume they 
thought the thief didn’t know that he had com- 
mitted a crime, and were afraid the newspapers 
would tell him about it!” 

“Tell that to Frank!’ laughed Jack. “He’ll 
go up in the air!’ 

The boys found Jimmie and Oliver in the elub- 
room when they went down. The garage and 
carriage house had been searched—in vain, of 
course, for the boys had encountered the China- 
man on his way down to the basement as they 
ascended the stairs, the elevator being closed 
for the night. 


CONFESSION OF A PHOTOGRAPH 35 


“T believe that Chink had something to do 
with it, all the same,” declared Jimmie. ‘‘He 
ought to be watched every minute of the time!” 

“Now, here’s another point I don’t under- 
stand,” Jack said, going back to the conversa- 
tion he had had with Ned in the attic. “Why 
do the authorities think the boy has been taken 
to the mountains?”’ 

“Because that would be a natural place for 
the thieves to hide,’ Ned answered. ‘The 
mountains are easily within reach of Washing- 
ton, and they are virtually inaccessible to known 
officers of the law—at least so it is reported. 
The mountains run from central Pennsylvania 
to central Alabama, a distance of about a 
thousand miles, and afford many desirable hid- 
ing places.” 

“Yes, and we're likely to get our crusts split 
down there!’ Teddy grinned. ‘We will if they 
find out that we belong to the Secret Service!” 

“The Potomac river rises in West Virginia,” 
continued Ned, “‘and the prince may have been 
taken to the foothills in the launch he was seen 
my? 

“Are we going in a motor boat?’ asked 
Jimmie. | 

“We are going by rail as far as we can go,” 
Ned answered, ‘‘and then take shank’s horses 
for the wild country, with mules to tote the 


\ 


— / 
36 THE BOY SCOUT CAMERA CLUB; OR 


baggage. In the eastern part of West Virginia, 
we are likely to travel forty miles without seeing 
a cabin.” 

‘Where do we get our eatings?”’ demanded 
Jimmie. ‘‘Itmakes me hungry to climb moun- 
tains. We'll have to have a relief expedition 
sent after us if we don’t get plenty of eatings,” 
he added, with a wink at Teddy. 

“Plenty of game up there,” Ned grinned. 
‘“‘Plenty of deer, turkeys, coon, rabbits, birds 
and bears! We can dodge the game laws! 
Also a few wildcats are reported to have been 
-geen there. And there is said to be plenty of 
moonshine in the caves, too. Oh, we'll have a 
sweet old vacation, boys. And we start to< 
morrow!’ 


CONFESSION OF A PHOTOGRAPH 37 


CHAPTER IV 
A CAMP IN THE MOUNTAINS 


It was early June, and the members of the 
Boy Scout Camera Club were camped on a 
mountain top in West Virginia. They had 
spent about two weeks in making the trip to 
the point where they had established camp. 

Three mules, divested of their burdens now, 
were “staked out” in a little corral fragrant 
with grass down near the timber line. The tent © 
they had carried was a short distance below the 
summit, on the eastern slope, with packages and 
bags and boxes of provisions piled around it. 

To the south lay Virginia, to the north, east 
and west stretched the mountainous district of 
West Virginia. Far below them ran the North 
Fork of the Potomac river. 

What they saw was a wild and lonely country, 
with more deer, wild turkeys, and raccoons than 
human beings. On their hard and frequently 
delayed journey in they had passed cabins, sur- 
rounded here and there by rail fences, but there 
were none in sight from where they now stood. 

The sun, a round ball of fire in the west, 
would be out of sight in half an hour, and then 
the desolate darkness of the mountains would 


38 THE BOY SCOUT CAMERA CLUB; OR 


surround them. A wild turkey called to its 
mate in the distance, and small creatures of the 
air fluttered about, as if determined to know © 
‘hat human beings were doing there, in their 
srdinarily safe retreat. 

The boys had visited Washington the day fol- 
owing the incidents at the clubroom of the 
Black Bear Patrol, but had learned nothing of 
importance there. The launch in which the 
young prince had been seen had been traced up 
the river to the vicinity of Cumberland, but 
there the trail had ended. 

“Tt is a case of needle-in-the-haystack,” the 
Secret Service chief had said to Ned, on the 
morning of his departure for the mountains. 
‘““We have men looking over every inch of the 
large cities. We want you to rake those 
mountains with a fine-tooth comb!. Personally, 
I believe that the prince is there.”’ 

“But,” Ned had replied, “how are we to 
communicate with you in case we require more 

definite instructions?”’ 

“You know what Sherman did when he left 
Atlanta?” laughed the chief. | 

“Why, he cut the wires,” returned Ned, ‘sug : 
as not to have his movements hampered by 
orders from men who, not being on the ground, 
could not possibly know as much as he did of 
“what ought to. be done.’’ 7 | 


> 


/ 
CONFESSION OF A PHOTOGRAPH 39 


“That is what I want you to do!” the chief 
continued. “‘Cut the wires.” 

“But that is assuming a great responsibility,” 
urged the boy. 

“Very true, but I have an idea that you want 
to work in your own way, so go to it. A mess 
of lively boys running up and down the moun- 
tain sides looking for game and snap-shots ought 
not to arouse the suspicion of the thieves if 
they are there. Make friends with the moun- 
tain peopleif youcan. They are naturally sus- 
picious, but good as gold at heart.” 

That was his last talk with the chief. After 
that supplies had been bought'and transported 
by rail to the nearest point, and there the mules 
had been bought and the difficult journey begun. 
They had just made their first permanent camp. 

“T wouldn't mind living here a few years!” 
Teddy said. ‘It beats the hot old city! If I 
had plenty of reading matter and a full larder, 
I don’t think I would ever go back. I wish 
Dad could step out of that Harvard thing and 
eat supper with us!” 

The shrill scream of a mule now came up from 
the feeding ground below, and a commotion at 
the tent showed that one of the animals was 
kicking up a row there. 

“That’s that long-eared Uncle Ike,”’ Jimmie 
McGraw exclaimed. ‘I feel in my bones that 


40 THE BOY SCOUT CAMERA CLUB; OR 


I’m going to love that mule! He’s so worthless! 
If he had two legs less he’d beat Jesse James to 
the tall timber in piracy! He won’t work if 
you don’t watch him, and he’ll steal everything 
he gets his eyes on! Yes, sir, I feel that there’s 
a common sympathy between that mule and me, 
yet I know that we’ll havea falling out some day! 
He’s so open and above-board in his mischief.” 

‘“‘Can you see what he’s doing now?” asked 
Teddy. 

“Why, I saw him knocking at the door of the 
tent, and I presume that by this time he is sit- 
ting in my chair picking his teeth, after devour- 
ing the bread! That sure is some highwayman, 
that mule, yet I feel that I’m going to love and 
admonish him!” 

The boys dashed down the slope to the tent 
and found Uncle Ike, as Jimmie insisted on 
calling a tall, ungainly, raw-boned mule, chew- 
ing at a slice of ham which he had pilfered from 
a box by the side of the fire. 

“'There’s one thing about Uncle Ike,” Jimmie 
grinned, as Ned drove the animal away with a 
club. ‘‘He always looks like he had been sent 
for to lead an experience meeting! He’ll put 
on a face as long as a cable to a freight train, 
and then he’ll turn to me and wink one eye, as 
if explaining that it was all for a joke.” 

“'That’s your ham he’s chewing, cpt 
Ned declared. 


CONFESSION OF A PHOTOGRAPH 4i 


“T suppose so,” the boy replied. ‘“That’s 
what you get by being brother to a long-eared 
mule that for cussedness has Becker’s gunmen 
backed up a creek with the oars lost!’’ 

While the mule was being restored to his 
companions, Jimmie and Teddy began getting 
supper. They had plenty of tinned goods, 
plenty of flour, potatoes, meal and ham and 
bacon. Still, they thought they ought to have 
something in the way of game. : 

“TI saw a wild turkey back there,” Teddy 
volunteered. 

“And I saw a coon,” Jimmie added. 

“Ts there any law on turkeys and coons?’’ 
asked Jack, who was trying to make the fire 
burn bright with lengths of green wood. 

“There ain’t no law of any kind up here,” 
Frank insisted. 

“Then we'll go and get a coon,” Jimmie de- 
clared. ‘‘ You boys get a red-hot fire and I'll 
have the bird here before Ned gets that mule 
tied up!’ 

‘Guess I’ll go along,’’ Teddy suggested. ‘‘I 
never did like to have anyone else go to the 
trouble of getting my wild meat for me! [ll 
go along, and Frank and Ned and Oliver can 
get supper.” 

Without waiting for any affirmative replies 
from their companions, the two lads darted 


\ 


42 THE BOY SCOUT CAMERA CLUB; OR 


away,and were soon lost in a canyon which ran 
at right angles with the ridge much farther 
down. Frank and Oliver began piling dry wood 
on the fire. 

“Those boys will be back here in time for 
breakfast—just about!’ Frank commented, as 
the coffee water boiled and the bacon began 
sizzling in the pan. “If they get any supper 
here they’! have to cook it!” 

Presently Ned came back from the little 
valley where the mules were feeding and took 
a field glass from the tent. 

“What’s up now?” Teddy asked, as Ned 
walked back to the ridge and looked down into 
the valley of the North Fork. ‘“‘Ned must be 
seeing things!” 

Ned remained on the summit a long time, 
until the sun sank behind the range to the west 
and the valleys became ribbons of black between 
the lighter crests of the mountains. 

Presently Frank scrambled up the yards of 
rugged, rock-strewn slope which led to the 
summit where Ned was standing, still with his 
field glass in his hand. 

“‘ Anything in sight over that way?” the boy 
asked, as he came to Ned’s side, | 

‘There is a column of smoke in the valley,” 
Ned answered. ‘I thought at first that there 
were two, but I may have been mistaken. Do 


- 


CONFESSION OF A PHOTOGRAPH 43 


you remember what two columns of smoke 
would have indicated?” 

“Of course!’ laughed Frank. ‘If I should be- 
come lost in woods or mountains, or anywhere, 
I’d build two fires and get wet wood to make 
smudge, good and plenty. That would mean 
that I was lost and needed assistance. That’s 
the Boy Scout Indian signal for help. I re- 
member when we saw it north of the Arctic 
Circle, don’t you?” — 

“T won’t be apt to forget it right away,” was 
the reply. 

The boys remained standing on the summit 
for some moments, although it was now too 
dark for them to distinguish objects in the valley 
below. All around the June night called to 
them with its silences and its sharp and sudden 
rasp of sounds. There were the mountains, 


_ brooding, heavy, mysterious, and there were the 


fleets of flying clouds reaching dows to wrap 
their summits! 

“Tt is simply great up here!” Ned exclaimed 
presently. ‘That is the only word that seems 
to express it—great!”’ 

“Yes, it is fine for a change,’ Frank admitted, 
“though I don’t believe in the wilds as a per- 
manent thing! Everything in the mountains 
and forests seems to me to be crude and half 
done. This, I presume, is because the world 


44 THE BOY SCOUT CAMERA CLUB; OR . 


isn’t finished yet. Those who come to places 
like this catch the Creator with his sleeves rolled 
up, if that isn’t a coarse way of saying it.”’ 

“T like it, just the same!”’ Ned declared. ‘‘It 
is glorious! It is life!’ 

“Tt 1s healthful so far as animal life goes,” 
laughed Frank, “but what about, mental life? 
There would never have been anything wonder- 
ful in the way of inventions—iike the wireless, 
and the telephone, and the uses of electricity— 
if mankind had been content to live and die in 
the wilds! It is crude, as I said before, un- 
finished, out of line with all the decrees of art. 
I’ll take the city for mine, with its marble 
buildings, its wonderful art galleries, its beauti- 
ful parks!” 

‘‘Say, you mooners!”’ came a voice from the 
camp below, “if you’ve got done surveying 
the beautiful black landscape, suppose you come 
down to supper?” 

The boys went down to the tent to find Jimmie 
and Teddy still absent. : 

‘There are two things we'll have to set aside 
time for,’’ Ned declared, as he took a seat on 
the ground before the blaze, with a great plate 
of food in his lap. “We'll have to arrange for 
keeping Uncle Ike, the mule, out of mischief, 
and for keeping track of Jimmie and Teddy. 
Those boys will get lost in the mountains yet, 


CONFESSION OF A PHOTOGRAPH 45 


and go hungry for a few days. That would be 
punishment enough for Jimmie—hunger!”’ 

The boys sat by the campfire a long time, 
heaping dry wood on the blaze until they were 
obliged to widen the circle about it. There was 
only the light of the stars, looking down from a 
cloud-flecked sky, but there would be a moon 
shortly after ten o’clock. 

“Tf the boys don’t return before long,’’ Frank 
broke out, after a moment of silence, ‘I’m going 
to take a searchlight and go out looking for 
- them.” 

~The boy expressed the thought which was 
brooding in the minds of them all. They were 
more than anxious for the safety of the two 
truants. Oliver arose and walked away from 
the fire up the slope, until his figure was out of 
sight, but shortly came back and sat down again, 
his face expressing impatience as well as anxiety. 

“'There’s no reason why they shouldn’t see 
this fire,’ he said. ‘I walked over the summit 
a bit to see if the light was reflected over there. 
It is. If anywhere within two miles, they ought 
to see this blaze or the glow from it. They’re 
just doing this to make us worry. I'd like to 
get them by the neck, this minute,’ he added. 
- Uncele Ike, the mule, gave vent to a vrsious 
scream at that moment, and Ned arose and 
started in the direction of the feeding ground. 


46 THE BOY SCOUT CAMERA CLUB; OR 


When he reached the spot he saw that the mules 
were agitated, weaving about on the tying lines © 
in either fear or anger. 

“Uncle Ike,’ Ned said, patting the ugly 
beast on the neck, ‘‘ what is it about your sleep- 
ing chamber that you don’t like? Or it is your 
supper you object to?” 

Uncle Ike thrust his long ears forward and 
elevated his heels, as if kicking at some imagin- 
ary object back of him. Then Ned saw a figure 
moving in the darkness. | 

‘“Come out of that!’ he called. ‘‘Why are — 
you sneaking around here?”’ 

The figure advanced toward the boy then— 
the figure of an old woman! ; 


CONFESSION OF A PHOTOGRAPH 47 


CHAPTER V 
JIMMIE AND TEDDY MISS A MEAL 


““T was scared to come up until I heard your 
voice,’ the old lady said, as she came close to 
Ned. “I didn’t know you were only a boy.” ’ 

The woman appeared to be very old. Her 
hair was white and her lean face was wrinkled 
and leathery with time and storm and exposure 
to the winds of the hills. Still, old as she seemed 
to be, she walked alertly, with the swinging 
grace of the true mountain woman. She was 
very plainly dressed in a one-piece gown of dark 
calico. Her head was not covered at all, and 
the white hair took on a tinge of gold from the 
distant campfire. Her black eyes were sharp, 
yet kindly in expression. 

“Good evening, mother,’’ Ned said, removing 
his cap as he greeted the old lady, “we didn’t 
expect to meet ladies here. Do you live in this 
locality?” 

“Quite a step,” the old lady said, in a gentle, 
hesitating tone, “quite a bit down the slope is 
where I live. I wanted to know what the fire 
meant, and sol cameup. You don’t mind my 
being here, do you?”’ 

“Glad to have you come!’ Ned responded, 


' 48 THE BOY SCOUT CAMERA CLUB; OR > 


truthfully. “If you care to come up to our 
camp we'll be glad to give you a cup of tea and 
whatever else you want.” 
“Tl be glad to get a cup of tea,” the woman 
declared. “We don’t get tea up here in the 
mountains—not very often. We don’t have the 
money to pay for it, and, then it is such a long 
way to go afterit. Yes, I'll go with you.” | 

Ned noted that the woman did not speak the — 
dialect of the mountains. He wondered how 
long she had lived there, and if she lived alone. 
She did not long leave him in doubt on these 
points, for she seemed anxious to talk. 

“T’m Mary Brady,” she said, as they as- 
cended the slope toward the fire. ‘‘I came here 
years ago with my husband, Michael Brady, to 
live in peace. Mike was a good man when he 
was himself, but the saloon men of New York 
were always after him when he had any money. 
We came here to be rid of them.” 

“That was the correct thing to do, it strikes 
me,” Ned said, for want of something better, 
as she seemed to expect some friendly comment. 

“J don’t know,’’ she went on. “We meant 
it for the best—but there was the moonshine! 
I didn’t know about the moonshine when we 
came here. All I thought of was to get away ~ 
from Houston street! He fell one day and they _ 
brought him home dead.” | 


CONFESSION OF A PHOTOGRAPH 49 


Ned was strangely interested in this simple 
life history. Thepoor old woman living there, 


probably alone and in want, after such an end- 


ai 


ing to a hopeful plan! 

“And you kept on here?’’ he asked. ‘‘Why 
didn’t you go back to the city?” 

“There was the boy,” she answered. “He 
was ten when we came here. I didn’t want him 
to get the thirst! After Mike died I lived here 
to keep him in the good path. Heisa good boy, 
but when he was twenty they got him, too—the 
moonshiners!”’ 

“ And he left you?” asked Ned. 

“He said he couldn’t make anything of him- 
self here, so he went to Washington. He’s 
never come back, though I’ve always kept a 
home for him, and never ceased to look for him. 
He writes me now and then that he’s coming 
home, but he doesn’t come! When I saw your 
fire I thought he might be with you.” 

By this time they were at the camp, and Mary 
Brady was presented to the boys and made 
comfortable by the fire, with tea and canned 
fruit before her. She enjoyed the lunch im- 
mensely and looked the gratitude she did not 
speak. 

“When did you hear from your boy last?’ 
asked Frank, by way of keeping the conversa- 


50 THE BOY SCOUT CAMERA CLUB; OR 


tion going. ‘‘Did he write from Washington? 
Was it to Washington you said he went?” 

“Tt was Washington,” was the reply. “He 
wrote me a month or more ago that he would 
be here with friends in June. I thought he 
might be with you. He has been married since ~ 
he left home, and has a child, though his wife is 
dead.” 

‘“‘And he said he was thinking of bringing 


the child here?”’ asked Ned, glancing signifi- 


cantly at Frank. “Did he say that in his last 
letter?” ; 

“Yes, that he was thinking of bringing the 
boy here. It is only a mite of a boy—not more 
than seven years old, he said. I’m anxious for 
him to come.’ 

Jack and Oliver gathered closer about the old 
lady in order to hear every word that was 
spoken. One brought her more tea and the 
other filled the sauce dish with peaches. Ned 
motioned to them to remain silent. 

“And so you expect him to drop down on 
you any time?’ Ned asked. 

“Yes, my son and the boy. He’s a cute 
little chap, Mike says. Mike was named for 
his father, and the lad’s name is Mike, too. I’m 
anxious for him to get here. And Im-wonder- — 
ing whether he’s light and blonde, with brown 
hair and blue eyes like his father, or dark, like | 
my side of the family. 


a“ 


CONFESSION OF A PHOTOGRAPH BI 


- “What do you make of it?”’ Jack whispered 
to Oliver. ! 

“What do I make of what?’”’ demanded the 
other. i 

“Of the old lady and her three Mikes?” re- 
plied Jack, scornfully. ‘Have you been asleep 
all this time?” 

“‘T was waiting for you to express an opinion,” 
Oliver declared. ‘‘ Do you think it possible that. 
they would change the name of a prince of the 
royal blood to Mike?”’ 

‘So you’ve caught on, at last!’’ whispered 
Jack. “Do you really think we’ve tumbled on 
a streak of luck at the send-off?”’ 

“T don’t know,” was the hesitating reply. 
“We'll have to cultivate this old lady.” 

“Sure thing!’ 

“Did she say where her cottage is?’ asked. 
Oliver, directly. ‘‘ We ought to verify her story, 
it seemstome. I’d like to hear Ned’s opinion!” 

“Do you remember what she said about Mike 
II. having blonde hair and blue eyes?” asked 
Jack, presently. 

“Sure!” was the answer. “That made me 
sit up and take notice. It brought back to my 
memory the light brown hair on the bloody 
blade of the shears.” 

“Same here,’ announced Jack. “If this 
Mike II. comes here we'll have to find out if he 


52 THE BOY SCOUT CAMERA CLUB; OR 


has a cicatrice on the right thumb and a scar on 
the head, a scar which might have been brought 
about by a pair of shears thrown by a frightened 
maid in the city of New York!’ 

“Think of a crown prince being called Mike!’* 
chuckled Oliver. 

“Ned didn’t say it was a crown prince!”’ 

‘“‘He might just as well have said it! He didn’t 
dispute me when I asked if it was @ crown\ 
prince who had been abducted.” 

“Tf Jimmie and Teddy don’t return soon,” 
Jack said, changing the subject, “we'll have to 


start the Boy Scout Camera Club out looking _ 


for them.” 

: “They'll be back when they get hungry!’ | 
laughed the other. 
But Jimmie and_Teddy were still away when 

the moon rose over the ridge to the east. Mrs. 

Brady was still by the campfire. She appeared 

to delight in the companionship of the boys. 

Having lived alone for years, she would have 

been delighted at any companionship whatever, 

but the boys were full of life and vitality, they 
were sympathetic, and, besides, they were from 
her old home—New York! 

As the moon showed her round face over the 
summit of the range to the east she arose and — 
stretched out a withered hand to Ned. 
«. “Tm going,” she said. “Ive had a pleasant — 


CONFESSION OF A PHOTOGRAPH 5g 


evening. You don’t know how much it has 
been to me to sit here and talk with you! If 
you'll come down to my cabin some day Vil 
try to make it pleasant for you!” 

“Some day,” laughed Ned. ‘“ What do you 
say to my going right now? Of course I’ve got 
‘to see you home! Couldn’t think of letting 
you go away alone.” 

“T’ve walked these mountains night and day 
for more than twenty years,” faltered the old 
lady, ‘and I’m not afraid now!’ 

“You don’t object to my going?” asked Ned. 

“T’m awful glad to have you go,’’ was the 
reply. ‘‘But you'll find it a long walk, there 
and back,” she added. 

“Tf it is too far for me to walk back,’’ Ned 
laughed, ‘“‘ you may give me a bunk on the floor! 
Anyway, I’m going to see you home!’’ 

As the boy spoke he beckoned to Frank to 
step to one side with him. . 

“Of course this looks all straight, on the face 
of it,” he said, when-the two were alone to- 
gether, “but one can never tell. We've got to 
be pretty careful, for we are in a strange country, 
and are here for a purpose which may be resented 
by the mountaineers. We can’t afford to take 
any chances.” 

“Do you suspect the old lady?” asked Frank, 
in amazement. 


*f 


54 THE BOY SCOUT CAMERA CLUB; OR 


“T don’t know what to think,” was the hesitat- 
ing reply. ‘‘The first night we spend in a per- 
manent camp, up she comes with a story about 
a son being about to bring in a boy of seven for 
her to mother! Then, as if that wasn’t enough 
of a bait for us to snap at, she goes on to say that 
the son is blonde, with light brown hair and blue 
eyes. Looks like we were being led on!” 

“You bet it does,’’ Frank replied. ‘‘ Jimmie 


and Teddy have disappeared, and this may be 


a frame-up, and so I wouldn’t go off alone with 
her. And, look here,’ Frank went on, ‘‘do you 
believe Uncle Ike would have kicked, and 
screamed, and made a row generally, if only 
this old lady had approached him? Do you,. 
now?” 

“She might have frightened him,’ Ned re- 
plied, “for he may not be used to women. Still, 
she may have had some one with her! I was 
thinking that Uncle Ike sounded a warning on 
slight cause,” he added. 

“Well, if I were you, I wouldn’t go re 
alone with her,’ advised Frank. ‘Let me go 
with you if you insist on going.” 

“‘Of course I’ve got to go now,” Ned went on. 
‘“‘T’ve promised her, and she is expecting me to 
go. But Ill tell you what you may do. You 
can wait until I have gone some distance and 
then follow on behind, not so as to be seen by 


CONFESSION OF A PHOTOGRAPH 55 


any other person trailing us, but still close 
enough to be available in case of trouble.” 

“All right,” Frank agreed. “I'll keep back 
far enough to see any one who might be follow- 
ing the two of you! I wish Jimmie was here! 
He’d be just the one to go with me. And there’s 
always something doimg when Jimmie is 
around!” | 

“T’m worried about those boys!’ Ned an- 
swered. ‘I’m going tokcepasharp lookout for 
them, all the way to the cabin.” 

““There’s something wrong,’’ Frank hastened 
to say. “They never would have remained 
away from camp like this. And without supper, 
too! Jimmie is particular to be on hand when 
it comes to eating time. There! There’s Uncle 
Ike talking in his sleep! I wonder what’s eat- 
ing him now? Shall I go and see?” 

“No,” Ned said, hastily, seizing Frank by the 
arm. “Don’t even look in that direction. 
Watch Mrs. Mary Brady!’ 

The old woman’s face was turned toward the 
spot where the mules were staked out, her figure 
was straight, tense, alert. She appeared to be 
listening and watching for some agreed-upon 
signal from the corral. Ned moved over toward 
her cautiously. 

Once the old woman moved, involuntarily, 
toward the mules, but she drew back in a 


ri 


56 THE BOY SCOUT CAMERA CLUB; OR 


moment and stood, waiting, with her eyes on the 
boys, now in a little group not far from the spot 
where she stood. 


CONFESSION OF A PHOTOGRAPH ‘57 


CHAPTER VI 
SIGNALS IN THE CANYON 


Jimmie and Teddy passed over the summit 
to the west of the camp and took their way down 
a difficult incline toward the headwaters of the 
Greenbrier river. They traveled some distance, 
walking, sliding, creeping, before they came in 
sight of a copse which appeared to be worth 
looking over for wild game. 

_“T don’t know about this wild turkey busi- 
ness,’ Teddy said, as the boys stood on an 
elevation lifting above the patch of timber. 
“Tf I’ve got it right, wild turkeys are precious 
birds in West Virginia.”’ 

“T never once thought of that!’’ Jimmie ex- 
claimed. ‘“‘Why, we won’t have any fun hunt- 
ing at all! I wonder if there is a closed season for 
coons?”’ 

Teddy took out a memorandum book and 
turned to an insert pasted on the inside of the 
cover. Dropping to the ground, so as not to 
attract the attention of any natives who might 
be near by, he read the slip by the aid of his 
electric searchlight. 

“Open season for wild turkeys in West Vir- 


58 THE BOY SCOUT CAMERA CLUB; OR 


ginia from October fifteen to December one,” 
he read. ‘‘Now, what do you know about 
that? Rotten, eh?’’ 

‘“‘T guess we can get one to eat, all right,” 
grumbled Jimmie. ‘ Who’s going to know any- 
thing about it if we do, I’d like to know? Away 
off here in the mountains!” 

‘“‘T presume there are constables and justices 
up here who would be glad to soak us for fifty 
or a hundred apiece!’ Teddy grinned. “I 
reckon we’d better eat hens, and coon, and fresh 
fish—if we can get them! And deer! We get 
no venison steaks!’ 

‘“‘Not this season!’ Jimmie grunted. ‘‘They’d 
- take great joy, as you say, in getting usinto jail 
and. extracting all our vacation money! I’m 
going to take photographs of the West Virginia 
game laws. A man is about the only creature 
one can shoot down here during the summer and 
get away withit! Ill have Frank put that idea 
in his dad’s newspaper!” 

“We've got enough to eat, anyway,” laughed 
Teddy. “‘The question before the house right 
now is how are we going to get down into that 
patch of trees?’’ 

“The laws of gravity will take us down!” 
answered Jimmie. ‘‘Just step off this ledge and 
see if I’m not right. What do we want to go — 
down there for, anyway, if we can’t shoot a 


CONFESSION OF A PHOTOGRAPH 59 


wild turkey after we get there? I’m going back 
to camp.” ; 

The night was falling fast, and stars were 
showing between masses of clouds. The boys 
had traveled farther from the camp than they 
had intended, and the return journey was all 
up hill. They surveyed the prospect gloomily. 

“T could eat the top off one of the mountains!” 
Jimmie declared, as they turned to make the 
climb. “I never was so hungry in my life, 
Wish we were back in camp!” 

Teddy, who had turned to look down into the 
valley, now caught Jimmie by the arm and 
pointed downward, where a low-lying ridge 
jutted out of the general slope and made a small 
canyon between itself and the body of the 
mountains, @ canyon in which a trinkle of water 
showed. 

“Do you see that column of smoke?”’ he asked, 
as Jimmie turned. 

“There must be a camp there,” Jimmie ex- 
claimed. “I thought we would be all alone up 
here for a time—until we got a line on the men 
who stole the prince.” 

“Wait a minute!’ Teddy answered. ‘ “There! 
Now do you see two columns of smoke?’’ 

The two columns lifted skyward for only a 
second, then died down. 

“That’s the Boy Scout signal for help!” 


60 THE BOY SCOUT CAMERA CLUB; OR 


Jimmie commented. ‘‘I wonder what shut it 
off so quickly? It would be strange if we found | 
Boy Scouts here in the mountains—eh?” 

‘“‘ According to all reports,’ Teddy answered, 
- “rou boys found Scouts in all parts of the world, 
even in China and the Philippines! If it is a 
Scout making that Indian sign for help, he'll — 
get the smoke going again before long. There 
they are!” . 

The two columns of smoke were in the air 


again, ascending from the canyon between the ~ 


mountainside and the outcropping ridge. Di- 
rectly a gleam of fire was seen. 
‘“That’s the call for help, all right!” Jimmie. 
cried. ‘‘ What shall we do about it?” — :: 
“We ought to go right there. The boy may 
have been injured in a fall, and may be starving! 
We ought to get there as soon as possible.” | 
“Without going back to camp to tell the 
boys?” asked Jimmie, ‘‘We have been gone a 
long time now, remember. They will be worry- 
ing about us pretty soon.” 
“But we ought to go right now!” insisted 
Teddy. ‘‘The boy may be in trouble.” 
‘“‘Something else coming!’ cried Jimmie, then. 
‘See that blazing stick working overtime? He’s 
going to talk in the Myer code! Now count ~ 
right and left.” | 
‘“‘There’s one to the right!’ Teddy said. © I’ve 
lost track of the code already.” 


CONFESSION OF A PHOTOGRAPH 6 


“No. 1 motion is to the right,”’ Jimmie quoted 
from the wig-wag lesson he had learned on first 
becoming a Boy Scout. “It should embrace 
an are of ninety degrees, starting at the vertical 
and returning to it without pause, and should 
be made in a plane exactly at right angles to the 
line connecting the two stations. 

‘‘And No. 2 motion is the same, only on the 
left side. And three is the same, only the signal 
goes to the ground and comes back to the verti- 
cal! Now I’ve gotit! Then he wig-wags again 
I'll tell you what he says. You read, too, and 
see if we agree.” 

“One to the right!”’ cried Jimmie, ‘‘and two 
to the left!’ 

“That means H,” Teddy translated. ‘‘ What 
comes next?”’ 

“No 1 and then No. 2,” replied Jimmie. 
“That's plain enough!” 

“It stands for E,”’ Teddy went on, ‘‘and I 
know what the next letter will be, too.” 

“No. 2, No.2, No.1! Iknewit! That is L. 
The other will be P!” 

“No. 1, No. 2, No. 1, No. 2!’ read Teddy, 
following the flight of the blazing stick as it 
moved through the darkness. ‘‘That’s L, and 
the word is HELP!’’ 

‘‘ And here we go to see about it!’ Jimmie de- 
cided, moving down the slope. ‘‘The boy can’t 


62 THE BOY SCOUT CAMERA CLUB; OR 


be very far off. I’d like to know how a Boy 
Scout got lost out here.” 

‘““‘We may become lost ourselves,” laughed | 
Teddy, ‘‘if we don’t look out where we are going. 
I wouldn’t know where to head for if I wanted 
to go back to camp right now.” 


‘““All we would have to do would be to climb | , 


the mountain,’’ Jimmie declared. : 
‘“There’s more than one summit,” persisted 
Teddy. ‘‘We’d better get a line on something 
to guide ourselves by when we go back.” , 
‘We came straight west,’ the other said, 
‘‘and if we get lost the moon will tell us which 
way to go—if it doesn’t rise in the west down 
here!”’ | re 
The wig-wag code below was still in evidence, 
always repeating the same word, ‘Help.’ 
The boys hesitated no longer, but went rattling © 
down the slope at a speed which spoke well for 
their balancing powers! As they entered the 
little canyon from the north, Jimmie halted and 
settled back on a rock, his hand on Teddy’s 
shoulder. | 
‘Do you suppose he heard us coming down 
the slope?’”’ he asked. 


‘“‘He must have been deaf if he didn’t,” ad 4% 


the reply. ‘‘We brought about half the moun- 
tain down with us, it seemed tot me. - Of course 
he heard us.’ ) 


CONFESSION OF A PHOTOGRAPH 63 


“Well, we ought to have been more cautious,” 
Jimmie declared. 

‘“‘T guess we aren’t likely to frighten him 
away,” suggested Teddy. ) 

“But this may be a frame-up,’”’ warned the 
other. ‘Look here! The people who sent 
that spy to Jack’s house knew the Boy Scouts 
were going out to look for the prince, didn’t 
they? We have never seen or heard anything 
of them since that night, but there is good 
reasons for Bs that they have had us under 
surveillance.” 

“And you think this may be a trap for us?” 
asked Teddy. 

“Tt may be,” wasthereply. ‘If they wanted 
to trap us, they would go about it in just about 
this way, if they were wise, wouldn’t they? 
Sure they would.” 

“Then we'd better sneak up to that campfire 
and find out what is going on before we show 
ourselves,’ suggested Teddy. ‘‘We ought to 
have come down here as softly as two flakes of 
snow? What? We'll know better then to 
make so much noise next time!” 

“There may be no next time,” Jimmie ad- 
vised, as they moved down the canyon, in the 
middle of which ran a small stream of water, a — 
rivulet connecting with the Greenbrier river 
farther to the south and west. 1t was now quite 


>» | 


*% ~ 


64 THE BOY SCOUT CAMERA CLUB; OP 


dark, and they were obliged to feel every step 
of their way, for there were numerous crevices 
in the floor of the canyon. oft 
Pressing on, slowly, cautiously, their weapons 
within easy reach, the boys finally turned a little 
angle of rock and came within sight of a camp- 
fire not far away. a 
‘There!’ Jimmie whispered. ‘‘I had a notion 
that we should find more than one here. Why 
did the Scout wig-wag for help when there were 
three husky men with him?’’ 
Teddy opened his eyes wider, but attempted 
no solution of the puzzle. | 
‘‘There’s a little chap sitting alone by the 
fire,’ Jimmie went on, peering through his 
field-glass, ‘‘and there are three men gathered in 
a huddle on the other side of the fire. They all 
look like they were listening for something.’ 
‘“‘T don’t wonder—the way we came down the 
slope!’ The other grinned. 
While the boys watched one of the men strode 


. over to where the boy was sitting and, evidently, 


began questioning him. The watchers were\too 


far away to hear any conversation between the ~ 


two. Presently the boy sprang up and started 
to run. x 

In a moment the heavy hand of the man was 
on his shoulder and he was dragged back to the 


CONFESSION OF A PHOTOGRAPH 65 
BS a kD CE a COE UE al NRA ART 
fire and dumped down like a sack of grain. He 
lay quite still for a moment. 

“T’d like to know what that means!” Teddy 
whispered. ‘‘That’s brutal!’’ 

“That gives me faith in the boy!” exclaimed 
Jimmie. 

““What’s the answer to that?’’ demanded 
Teddy. 

‘They probably saw him doing the wig-wag!’’. 
was Jimmie’s replv. ‘‘They’re threatening 
him.” 

“And they may hes:ve been beating him up 
for doing it? That may be.” 

‘‘And, again,” the other continued, ‘‘ that may 
be a little rehearsal all for our benefit! There 
are men in the world sharp enough to put up 
just that kind of a bluff.”’ 

“That’s very true,’ was the reply. ‘‘We’ve 
got to lie here until we know what it all means. 
We can’t go away and leave’the little fellow 
witiout knowing more about the signals. Those 
men may be moonshiners. We might get a 
reward!” 

“We'll be lucky if we don’t get into jail!” 
Jimmie grunted. “If we don’t, we'll get into 
an infirmary for the hungry! If 1 have.to lie 
on this rock much longer with nothing to eat 
_T’ll have to be carried back on a stretcher!’ 


66 THE BOY SCOUT CAMERA CLUB; O 


“You always were the brave little man with 
the knife and fork!” grinned Teddy. 

The four figures by the fire remained in the 
old order for a long time, the men grouped to- 
gether, the boy alone on the side of the blaze 
next to the watchers. 

““T wish I could get up to him?” Teddy said, 
as if requesting advice on the question of a 
nearer approach to the boy. ‘‘I’d like to see if 
it is the prince!”’ 

“The prince isn’t a Boy Scout!” declared 
Jimmie. ‘‘ Besides, this boy is too old to be 
the prince! The prince is only seven years old— 
just a little baby.” : 

‘‘Anyway, I’m going to make a sneak up 
there,” insisted Teddy. 

Before Jimmie could stop him he was away, 
crawling on hands and knees through the heavy 
shadows of the cliffs which lay about the camp- 
fire. Jimmie watched him anxiously for a 
moment and then started to follow him. 

The two were not far away from the lad, and. 
were thinking of doing something to attract his 
attention when a stone rolled into a crevice with 
a great bumping sound. The boys dropped 
down on their faces and waited, their hearts 
beating like trip-hammers as the men around 
the fire sprang to their feet. 

_ “What was that?” demanded a hoarse voice. 


CONFESSION OF A PHOTOGRAPH _ 67 


~ “Who is out there?”’ he added, turning to the 
darkness beyond. ‘‘I’m going to shoot out that 
way in a minute!”’ 

‘“‘T like this!’ whispered Jimmie. ‘This is 


_ gome adventure! What?” 


68 THE BOY SCOUT CAMERA CLUB; OR 


CHAPTER VII 
A MINT IN THE MOUNTAINS 


‘““Why,’’ the old woman said, stepping closer 
to the group of boys, “‘that’s Buck!” 

‘A heavily-built man with a scraggly beard 
stepped away from the corral and approached 
the group by the fire, his stubby fingers twining 
in and out of his unkempt whiskers as he walked 
along, his eyes fixed on the fire and those about 
nae ; 
‘“'That’s Buck Skypole,” the old woman went 
on, as the advancing figure stopped. ‘I didn’t 
ee you was to come after me Buck,” She 
added, speaking to the new-comer. 

“T ’lowed you’d be right skeered of the dark: i 
the man answered, ‘‘so I “lowed I’d come on up 
an’ tote you homey | 

He rubbed his left thigh carefully for a 
moment and then spoke to Ned. 

“That’s a right pert mule,” he said. i 
“Did Uncle Ike kick you?” asked Jack, 
nudging Oliver in the ribs with an elbow. 

“We'll have to wallop him a bit, if he did.” 

‘“‘T reckon I ain’t got no mad at the creeter,”’ 
Buck replied. “A man must keep out’n reach 
of a mule. Seein’ the mule’s got only a few 


CONFESSION OF A PHOTOGRAPH = 69 


feet of play in his laigs, he ought to be able to 
do that! No; I ain’t goin’ to recommend no 
beatin’s f’r the mule!’ | 

“Buck,” said the old lady, “these are boys 
from New York, my old home! They’re taking 
pictures of the mountains.” | 

‘They e’n take the mountains, too!’ Buck 
laughed. “F’r all me!” 

“I thought Mike might have come in with 
them,” the old lady went on. ‘‘He isn’t here, 
but I’ve had a real pleasant time with the boys. 
I’m much obliged to you, lads,” she added, 
facing Ned. “I’m grateful for the tea and the 
fruit. 'They’re rare here.’’ 

“T reckoned you wouldn’t find Mike here,” 
Buck chuckled, ‘“‘f’r while you was gone a 
message come from Mike. He can’t get here 
now, but he’s sent the kid!’ 

‘“‘He has?” cried the woman, joyfully. ‘‘Do 
you mean to tell me, Buck, that the boy is right 
‘down there this minute, in my cabin?” 

“Sure I do,” was the reply, ‘‘an’ a bright 
little feller he is.” | 

“ Give us a guess on that,”’ whispered Jack to 
Oliver. ‘‘Is the kid in the cabin Mike IIL, or is 
he the prince? Give you three guesses!’’ 

“T give it up!’ the boy whispered back. 

“Why didn’t you bring the kid along with 
you?” asked Frank. ‘We all want to see him. 


70 THE BOY SCOUT CAMERA CLUB; OR 


His grandmother has been telling us about him.” 

“Its a right smart walk for a little one!” 
Buck answered. 

‘“You’re welcome to come down and see him,” 
Mrs. Brady said. ‘“I’d be proud to give you 
all a snack in the morning.”’ 

‘Suppose we do go and see the kid?” asked 
Oliver. “I’m curious to know all about the 
little shaver!” 

‘‘T’m for it!’ Frank exclaimed. 


“And Vl be the first one there!’ Jack put in. 


“T always liked kids—from Washington! ay 

one will molest the camp while we are genes 
“T wouldn’t leave it alone, if I were you,” 

advised the old lady. ‘‘There’s a heap of bad 


people come into ye nountains meanie S 


Don’t all leave at once.’ 

“That’s good advice, mother,” Ned iid 
“Two will go and two wall remain here. Ina 
short time the two out in the hills will return, 
and then there will be a good-sized guard for 
what little stuff we have.” 


‘All right,’ Jack declared, “if any one is © 


going to stay here, it will be me! Come to 
think of it, I’m too blamed tired to walk an- 
other step to-night. Eh, Oliver?” 

“T’ll remain here if you do,” the boy replied. 
“T’m worn out up to my knees now, climbing 


“a 
i 


‘ 


be 


CONFESSION OF A PHOTOGRAPH 7 


mountains. And, besides, Uncle Ike would be 
lonesome without me away!” 

“Very well,” Ned agreed. “That leaves 
Frank and me for the visit. When Jimmie and 
Teddy come, put them to bed without supper!’’ 

“You'll know when they come, then,” laughed 
Jack, “‘for Jimmie going to bed without supper 
will be a noisy proposition. You can hear him 
for ten miles.”’ 

“T’m anxious about the boys,’’ Ned went on. 
“Tm afraid something is wrong with them. 
They should have been back here hours ago.” 

“You remember the Indian signal for help 
you saw in the valley?” asked Frank, in a 
moment. “ Well, they may have seen that, too, 
and taken a notion to find out about it. They 
went in that direction when they left the camp.” 

“That may be the reason for their delay,” 
Ned answered. “We should have attended to 
that signal ourselves,’’ he added. ‘‘There may 
have been some one in serious trouble down 
there. I hope the boys did go—that is, if 
nothing happens to them because of their going. 
Boy Scouts should assist each other at every 
opportunity.” 

After a little more talk regarding the boy who 
had been sent to Mary Brady by her son in 
Washington, and after Buck had been given a. 


72 THE BOY SCOUT CAMERA CLUB; OR 


couple of cups of steaming hot coffee, the four 
started down the slope to the west. 

“Did any one say how far it was to the old 
lady’s cabin?” asked Jack of his chum, as they 
nestled down by the fire, the mountain air 
being cold, even in June. 

‘Buck said it was three whoops and a holler!’ 
almost shrieked Oliver. ‘‘Doyou know whathe . 
meant by that?’ ; 

“T don’t know,’ answered Jack, “but I 
should think, from what she said, that the boys 
won’t feel like walking back up the mountain 
to-night. Therefore, if Jimmie and Teddy _ 
don’t come, we’ll be alone.” 

“T wonder if they would know the prince if 
they met him in the road?” laughed Oliver. 
‘That kid down there is just as much the prince 
as I am. What did they steal the kid for, 
anyway?” 

“Politics!” yawned Jack. 

“What did they send him over here for, 
anyway?” 

“Politics!” with another yawn. | 
‘“Aw, go on to bed!” grinned Oliver. “Vl 
build up another fire, to serve as a sort. of light- 
house for the boys and sit up for them.” | 
So Jack went into the tent, pulled down a 
great heap of blankets, drew off his coat and — 
shoes and stockings, and was soon asleep in a — 
neat little nest! 


CONFESSION OF A PHOTOGRAPH —73 


Oliver sat by the fire for a short time and 
then went up to the summit to look over the 
valley. ‘lhe moon was rising now, and he could 
see the four who had recently left the camp 
working their way over a ridge to the south and 
west. 3 
Straight down, in a canyon made by an out- 

cropping ledge of rock, he saw a faint light, as 
from a campfire which had been allowed to die 
down. 

“The mountains are full of people to-night!” 
he mused. “If I thought I could make Uncle 
Ike behave himself, I’d ride down there and see 
who those campers are.’ 

The boy stood undecided for some noments, 
then his eyes opened wider and he moved down- 
ward toward the fire. He was thinking of the 
Boy Scout signals for help which Ned and Frank 
had mentioned seeing! 

“T wonder if Jack would go down there with 
me!” 

When he reached the camp Jack was in the 
land of dreams, and he decided not to awake 
him. He could go alone just as well! 

He went on down to the feeding ground and . 
presented Uncle Ike with a lump of sugar. The 
mule thanked him with wiggling ears and dived 
a soft muzzle into his coat pocket for another 
POND, 


fe 
f 
/ 
/ 
/ 
Jf 


74 THE BOY SCOUT CAMERA CLUB; OR 


“Not until you come back, Uncle Ike!’ 
Oliver explained. ‘‘If you do a good job 
traveling up and down the mountainside, you’re » 
going to have another piece of sugar when we 
get back!” 

The boy saddled and bridled the animal, 
mounted, and urged him away from the feeding 
ground. Uncle Ike, thinking his day’s work 
finished, objected to being put into harness 
again, and reared and kicked until Oliver was 
obliged to dismount and bribe him with more 
sugar. 

“Will you go now, you fool mule?” he asked. 

Uncle Ike finally decided to go, and his sure 
feet were soon pressing the slope toward the 
campfire. Oliver struck the canyon just about 
where Jimmie and Teddy had entered it. 

He left Uncle Ike there and advanced toward 
the campfire on foot. There were only a few 
embers left, and no signs of the fires which had 
sent up the two columns of smoke! ‘There was 
no one in sight-from the place where Oliver first — 
came in direct view of the blaze. 

He stepped along cautiously, listening as he 
walked, and soon came to a second fire. ‘This, 
too, was burned down low. Beyond this he saw 
the dark opening of-a cave in the outcropping 
ridge. 

As Oliver stepped toward it, thinking the 


rd 


{ 


CONFESSION OF A PHOTOGRAPH 15 


boys might have taken refuge there for the night, 
he stumbled over something which rolled under 
his foot and nearly fell to the ground. When 
he stooped over to see what it was that had 
tripped him, he saw an electric flashlight lying 
before him. 

“The boys have been here, all right,’ he 
mused. ‘‘Now, I wonder if this was taken from 
them, or whether they lost it, or whether it 
was placed here to mark the trail? Either sup- 
position may be the correct one!”’ 

The question was settled in a moment, for a 
voice which he knew came out of the darkness. 

“Found it, eh? Give it to me!” 

“‘ Jimmie!” whispered Oliver. 

“Get in here out of the light of the fire!’ 
Jimmie whispered, “and bring the electric in 
with you. Come on in, and see what we’ve 
found.” 

The opening in the ridge was a shallow one, 
Oliver discovered as he entered it. To his sur- 
prise he found three lads there instead of the 
two he had been looking for. 

“You saw the fires?” asked Jimmie, in a low 
tone. 

“Of course I did. Why didn’t you come to 
camp?”’ 

“This is the boy that built the Boy Scout 
signals!’ Jimmie said, bringing the other, for- 


Wry ae: “4q 
Bey 
j / 


| 


- ' \ / 
76 THE BOY SCOUT CAMERA CLUB; OR 


ward. ‘“‘His name is Dode Surratt, and he’s a 
bold, bad boy, being at present lookout for a 
gang of counterfeiters!”’ 

“That’s a nice clean job,’ Oliver replied. 
“Where are the counterfeiters?” ° 
“ At work in a hole in the ground. Hear the 
click of their machines? They are turning out 
silver dollars faster than we can spend. ‘them. 
We hid around until they went to work, then 

came up to talk with Dode.” 

Jimmie pointed to a crevice in the rock ind 
invited Oliver to look. A lance of light came 
up into the cave, and the boy’s eyes followed it. 
He could see a square room below, with a bright 
fire burning at one end and figures moving 
about it. | 

“Making counterfeit money, are they?” asked 
Oliver. 

“That’s what they’re doing! We were just 
thinking of getting out when you came. Dode 
wants to go, with us, but we tell him to remain 
with the gang until they can be rounded up by 
the officers.” 

Dode started to make sOme remark, but 
Jimmie stopped him. 

“They haven’t got any consideration coming 
from you, have they?” he asked. ‘They stole — 
you, didn’t they? They brought you here from 
Washington to make a thief of you, didn’t they?” 


CONFESSION OF A PHOTOGRAPH 77 


ee a TT 


‘And they beat you up for making the signals, 
too,’ Teddy put in. ‘And they’re coming out 
now!” he added. ‘So we'll all git—but Dode!’’ 


4 


78 THE BOY SCOUT CAMERA CLUB; OR 


CHAPTER VIII : 
UNCLE IKKE PRESENTS HIMSELF 


Mrs. Brady and Buck walking together, Ned 
and Frank discussed the situation thoroughly 
as they descended the mountainside. 

“This may be a frame-up,’ Ned observed, 
“but it is up to us to see 1t through. The boy 
who has just been brought in may be the prince, 
or he may be me erandson, ea we are here to 
get the answer.’ 

‘“‘Or there may be no boy at the cabin at all!” 
Frank suggested. ‘‘ The conspirators know that — 
we are in the mountains for the purpose of 
looking up the prince. What better plan than 
the one now working could they have settled 
on? If they are sharp at all, they would under- 
stand that a story of a child brought on from 
Washington would set us in motion—would be 
likely to get us into a trap!” 

They scrambled on down the slope for some 
distance, too busy keeping upright to do any 
talking, then Frank went on. 

“You know very well that ’'m no prophet of 
evil, Ned, but it looks to me that we have be- 
trayed our mission here by taking such an 
interest in the child. Would a lot of boys 


Poa 


CONFESSION OF A PHOTOGRAPH 79 


looking for snap-shots trail off in the night to 
see a boy when they might have taken a look at 
him the next day?” . | 

“Tf I know anything about human nature,’ 
Ned answered, ‘‘those two people ahead of us 
are honest. If it is a frame-up, they are not 
Re Si 

“ Anyway, Frank went on, “I’m glad the plans 
were changed by the arrival of Buck. It is 
much better for us to meet whatever is coming 
to us side by side than to have me sneaking 
back in the distance!’ 

Ned agreed to this, and the two quickened. 
their pace in order to come up with Buck and 
Mrs. Brady, who were now turning from the 
west to the south, keeping along the slope of the 
mountain. Directly they came to a narrow 
trail which led into a green valley. 

Following this, they soon came to a couple 
of acres of cleared land, in the middle of which 
stood a rough cabin of peeled logs. A dim light 
came from a square window by the door, and 
there came from the interior the sound of a 
man’s voice humming a song. 

The woman drew up and looked suspiciously 
at Buck. | 

“Who is that?’ she asked. ‘‘You didn’t tell 
me my son came, too.” 

“No,” replied Buck, ‘I didn’t, because, you 


80 THE BOY SCOUT CAMERA CLUB; OR 


see, Mike didn’t come! He sent this young 
fellow in with the kid, bringing word that he 
would be along later.” 

‘“‘ And who is it?’”’ demanded the woman. 

“A likely young chap,’ was the reply. ‘“‘He 
asked me to get you home to-night, because he 
wants to leave early in the morning.”’ 

“He won’t leave early in the morning if he 
sees us here,” Ned whispered to Frank. - “If 
that is the prince in there, the man with him 
may be the fellow who made his way into Jack’s 
house and listened from the attic.” 

“What are we going to do about it, then?” 
asked Frank, anxiously. 

“We've got to meet him,’ Ned replied. — 
‘““Whoever he is, he knows from Buck that Mrs. 
Brady went up the mountain to visit a camp of 
strangers. We've got to go in and face him!. 
I wish we had kept away from here to-night.” 

Mrs. Brady and Buck now opened the door 
and entered the cabin, the boys close behind 
them. A log fire was burning onastone hearth, 
and a tall, rather handsome young man with 
light hair and blue eyes was sitting in a home- 
made chair before it. : 

He stirred the fire to a brighter blaze as they 
entered, and the leaping flames disclosed a dark- 
haired child of perhaps seven years asleep on a 
bed in a corner of the small room. Without — 


CONFESSION OF A PHOTOGRAPH 8] 


‘speaking, without so much as a glance at the | 
visitor, the old lady walked swiftly to the bed 
and took the child in her arms. 

The boy opened his eyes and started to cry, 
but she quieted him with low words and sat 
down on the edge of the bed, swinging him 
back and forth with a motion of her arms and 
shoulders. The man at the fire glanced sharply 
at the woman and then turned his eyes to the 
boys, now standing not far from the bed. 

“The little dear!’ the woman cried, mother- 
ing the child. ‘‘He’s all tired out with his long 
journey!” 

“This is the man that brung the boy in,” 
Buck said, pointing to the figure by the fire. 
‘“‘ A mess of a time he must have had of it, too.” 

“You are the grandmother?’ asked the 
stranger. ‘‘Yes, I understand. And are these 
boys your sons, too?’ he added, nodding at 
Ned and Frank, suspiciously. 

“Only New York boys spending a vacation 
in the mountains,’ Ned said, answering the 
question. ‘Mrs. Brady came to our camp to- 
night looking for her son and we came home with 
her. We are looking for good pictures,” he 
added. | 

The stranger pointed to the old lady, sitting 
with the sleeping child on her breast. 

“There is one,”’ he said. 


82 THE BOY SCOUT CAMERA CLUB; OR 


“Yes, and I’m sorry I haven’t my camera 
with me.” 

“ Are you thinking of remaining in this section 
long?’ the visitor asked. 

“We can’t say,” laughed Ned. “We may 
move on to-morrow, and may stay here a week.”’ 

The man’s suspicions seemed to have van- 
ished. He talked frankly with the boys, and 
occasionally addressed a word to the old lady. 
He gave her, briefly, a good report of her son’s 
progress in Washington, and handed her a roll 
of bank-notes. ‘ 

‘‘He is coming here himself soon,” he said, 
‘“‘and he will bring more. He is doing very 
nicely there.”’ 

Ned was wishing the boy would waken when 
the old lady arose from the bed and laid him 
gently down. He stirred uneasily in his sleep 
and she stood by his side, smoothing his dark 
hair away from his forehead. 

“He favors my side of the family, being dak,” 
she said. The Stileses are all dark. If one of 
you boys will sit with him a moment,” she 
added, with mountain hospitality, “Dll get you 
alla snack. It was along road over the moun- ~ 
tains.” , 

Ned accepted the invitation eagerly and sat 
down by the child. The face was dark and 
slender, the eyebrows turned up a trifle at the 
outer corners. 


‘~ 


CONFESSION OF A PHOTOGRAPH 83 


“Ts it Mike III., or is it the prince?” he was 
asking himself when the boy awoke and sat up 
in bed with a jerk. 

““What’s comin’ off here?”’ he demanded, rub- 
bing his sleepy eyes. ‘‘What kind of a bum 
game is this? I want my daddy.” 

The visitor by the fire laughed. 

“He’s up in city slum talk,” he said. “And 
he’s learned something of French, too, knocking 
around with the boys in school.” 

“T can talk Franch like a native,” asserted 
the boy. 

“And what else?” asked the man by the fire. 

“Any old thing!” boasted the child. ‘‘They 
keep me at books all the time. I’m glad I’m 
with grandmother in the hills. Are you my 
grandmother?” he asked, pointing to the old 
woman, now bending over the fire. 

“Yes, deary,” was the reply. ‘I’m going to 
take care of you now.” 

“Pm glad!” 

The boy tumbled back on the bed again and 
closed his eyes. Frank looked at Ned signifi- 
cantly. 

“There’s no doubt about it!’ his eyes said. 
“This child is Mike III.” 

The old lady made hot corn bread and brewed 
a pot of mountain tea. The boys were not at 
all hungry, but managed to eat and eS mod- 
-erately. Then Ned arose. 


~~ 
84 THE BOY SCOUT CAMERA CLUB; OR 


“We've got to be on our way,” he said. “It 
will be morning before we get back to camp if 
we don’t start pretty soon!’ | 

When the boys, after a cordial good night 
from Mrs. Brady and Buck, left the cabin the | 
visitor followed them out. Ned stopped breath- 
ing, almost, as he took him by the arm. 

‘“There’s one thing I want you to explain to 
the old lady after a time,” the man said. “I 
suppose I might do it myself, but I prefer to let 
her know from personal observation something 
of the case first. That boy is not exactly right.” 

“Not mentally sound, you mean?” asked Ned. 
“He appeared to be all right just now.” 

“Oh, he’s bright enough,’’ answered the other, 
“but he’s been ill and has been in a hospital at 
Washington, and has been cuddled and humored 
so long that he likes to boss! Not good people - 


to boss, the attendants in a hospital, you will - | 


say, but I guess they let this kid have his way. 
When he was delirious they told him all sorts of 
‘fairy tales about kings and princes, and he 
actually thinks some of them are true. If he 
breaks out in any of his tantrums before you ~ 
leave, kindly tell the old lady what I am telling _ 
you, will you?” a 

Ned almost gasped! So the boy was likely 
to talk of kings and princes! He was likely to — 
become masterful in his manners! ‘a 


“age | 


CONFESSION OF A PHOTOGRAPH 85 


“| may have to change my mind,” he thought. 
“This may be the prince, and not Mike III. 
But the boy’s English, and there’s his street 
slang! What about that? I reckon that we 
have a job on our hands!” 

The two stood talking together in the moon- 
light for some moments, the stranger evidently 
resolved to make a good impression on the boys, 
while Frank walked on along the trail, looking 
back now and then to see if his chum was com- 
ing. 

“This boy’s father,” the man went on, ‘has 
permitted him to have his own way about 
everything. That was a mistake, of course, but 
he is trying to rectify it now by placing him 
under the care of his grandmother, who, if I 
mistake not, will see that he is properly dis- 
ciplined.”’ 

‘It has been a long time since the father left 
here,’ Ned suggested. 

“Yes, a long time.” 

“He is doing well in Washinetdn 

ig he is connected with the State depart- 
ment. 

Ned made a mental note of that! 

“And is receiving a fair salary?’ he asked. 

“Oh, yes; he’s doing nicely, far better, than 
his mother has any notion of.” 

Here was more food for thought. Why had 


86 THE BOY SCOUT CAMERA CLUB; OR 


the father delegated the pleasant duty of taking 
the boy back to the old mountain home to 
another if he had been situated so that he might 
have taken the journey himself? 

“Ts it the prince, or is it Mike III.?” he kept 
asking himself. 

While they stood there together a great clat- 
tering came down the trail, and they saw Frank 
turn aside and stand at attention, as if waiting 
for some object, seen in the distance, to come up. 
Directly the sounds settled down to the rattling 
of stones and the steady pounding of hoofs. 

“Look what’s here!’ Frank shouted, pointing. 

Ned moved forward, closer to the trail, and 
in a moment caught sight of a tall, lank, un- 
gainly mule coming galloping toward him! 

“What do you think of him?” ealled Frank. 
“He’s come to tell us that it is time we were 
home and in bed.”’ 

“Uncle Ike!’ called Ned. “Come here, you 
foolish mule!” | 

Uncle Ike, now in plain sight, kicked up his 
heels in derision but finally came to an abrupt 
halt in front of Ned, and stood with ears pitched 
forward and forelegs braced back, evidently 
very much frightened. 


CONFESSION OF A PHOTOGRAPH 87 


CHAPTER IX 
A LANK MULE AS A DECOY 


Judd Bradley, the young man who had 
brought the boy into the mountains, stood for a 
moment watching the mule curiously. Then he 
stepped nearer to Ned, who was trying to quiet 
the fractious animal. 

“Be careful,’ Ned warned, as Bradley ap- 
proached. ‘Uncle Ike doesn’t take to strangers. 
He may kick if you come within reach.” 

“He'll kick you whether you come within 
reach or not!’ grumbled Buck, who had been 
brought from the cabin by the clatter of the 
mule’s hoofs. ‘‘He reache1! over forty acres of 
rock to hand me one on the laig!’’ he added, 
rubbing his left thigh. 

Mrs. Brady came to the doorway of the cabin 
and stood there, outlined against the red fire- 
light within, with the boy in her arms. The 
child reached forth his arms impatiently, then 
began beating the old woman with his small 
fists. 

“Go an’ get me the horse!’ he commanded. 
“Mike wants a ride!’ 

“That’s the prince, all right!’ whispered 
Frank to Ned. “That’s the prince of some slum 


88 THE BOY SCOUT CAMERA CLUB; OR 


alley in Washington. What he needs is a club, 
applied just before and after meals, and just 
before retiring, with a dose at intervals during 
the night!” 

“T’m not thinking of the prince now,’’ Ned 
returned, still in a low tone, for the others were 
not far off, “I’m wondering how Uncle Ike came 
to be here.”’ ) 

“Broke away and eloped with himself, prob- 
ably,” laughed Frank. 

“Yes,” grinned Ned, ‘‘and put on saddle and 
bridle before he started!’ 

Frank’s eyes now began to stick out. 

““S-a-a-y!’? he whispered. ‘‘We’d better be 
getting back to camp! There’s something out 
of whack there! If the mule could only talk!” 

Bradley, who had backed away at Ned’s 
warning, now came up to the mule’s head. 

“He doesn’t kick with his ears, does he?” he 
asked, with a smile. 

“He? s an outlaw,’ Ned answered, wacko 
Bradley would return to the john “He’s 
thrown one of the boys, and we must be on our 
way. If you have time before you leave, come 
up to the camp. We’ve got the latest things in 
cameras and photographic material.” 

“T may get up there in the morning,” was the 
reply. 

Bradley and Mrs. Brady entered the house 


CONFESSION OF A PHOTOGRAPH 89 


and closed the door, and Ned turned to his chum 
with an odd look on his face. 

“Tive seen that man somewhere before. to- 

night!’ he said. 
_ “Then you’d better try hard to place him,” 
Frank answered, “for we are going to see more 
of him in the future, if I’m not mistaken. Per- 
haps you saw him on one of your visits to 
Washington.” 

“That may be,’’ Ned replied. ‘“ Anyway, I 
may be able to think it out before morning.”’ 

Uncle Ike laid his nose against Ned’s shoulder 
and gave him a push. 

“He’s in a hurry!” the boy laughed. “We 
ought to be, too! Is it possible that one of the 
boys saddled him for a ride on the mountain in 
the night?” 

“Just like Jack or Oliver. Or Jimmie may 
have returned and planned one of his midnight 
expeditions!’’ 

“Get up and ride,” Ned advised. “Ill walk 
and try to place that man’s face.”’ 

“You might have seen it in the rogue’s gal- 
lery,’ suggested Frank, leaping into the saddle 
and starting away, the mule pulling and rearing 
every moment. 

Finally Ned called out to him to stop, and 
walked up to his side. 

“Whatisthematter with Uncle Ike?” he asked. 


90 THE BOY SCOUT CAMERA CLUB; OR 


“He insists on keeping down toward the 
canyon,’ was Frank’s reply. ‘We came cat- 
cornering down the slope, didn’t we?” 

“We certainly did,’’ Ned answered, consider- 
ing the matter gravely. “Tell you what you 
do,”’ he went on, “let the mule have his head! 
Let him go just where he wants to. It is the 
instinct of animals to follow precedent, same as 
men. A man will follow a cow path until it 
becomes a city street, and a cow, a horse, or a 
mule will follow a trail previously used—if 
only passed over once! Let the mule have his 
head, and he may take us to the place where 
somebody was dumped!” 

“Solomon had nothing on you, Ned!”’ laughed 
Frank.“ Go to it! Uncle Ike, it is you for the 
scene of the abduction! And you may go just 
as fast as you please!” 

The mule started off at a fast pace, keeping 
to the bottom of the valley and finally entering 
the canyon at the south end. Ned walked by 
Frank’s side, his hand on the stirrup, listening 
for a sound he dreaded to hear. He was afraid 
one of the boys had been thrown from the 
animal’s back, and might be lying, suffering, 
in one of the crevices or breaks which marked 
the bottom of the canyon. 

After traveling some little distance in the 
canyon, Frank drew up and pointed ahead. 


~ 


CONFESSION OF A PHOTOGRAPH 9| 


“Right over there,” he said, “is the spot 
where we saw the smoke signs!” 

‘““‘That’s a fact!’ Ned answered. “One of the 
boys must: have come here to investigate and 
left Uncle Ike without tying! The mule has 
_ been here before, or he wouldn’t plod along so 
steadily. Suppose we leave him here and walk 
on cautiously?” 

“Just what I was about to propose,” Frank 
agreed. | 

Uncle Ike seemed to resent being left alone 
in the canyon, which was now almost as light as 
day, save where the shadows of the mountain 
to the east lay along the wall on that side. The 
mule was finally quieted and left in a dark angle. 

Moving in the shadows, the boys soon came 
to an angle in the cut and looked out on the re- 
mains of a campfire. They pushed on until 
they came opposite to it, but saw no one. In 
order to reach it they would be obliged to cross 
the canyon, not very wide there, but flooded with 
moonlight in the center. 

While they stood in the shadow of the moun- 
tain a man came stumbling down the slope ten 
yards away from them. At first they thought 
it was one of their chums, but when the man’s 
figure came into the moonlight they saw that 
he was tall, heavily built, and also heavily 
bearded. He walked straight across to the fire 


92 THE BOY SCOUT CAMERA C%UB; OR 


and passed it, turning into a shallow cave there 
was in the rock of the outcropping ridge. . 

The boys saw him enter the cave and look 
sharply around, then he disappeared as suddenly 
and completely as if he had walked into the solid 
rock. 

“We're getting all the stage effects!” Frank 
whispered. ‘‘That man ducked into a moon- 
shiner’s establishment!” 

“He ducked in somewhere, all right,’ Ned 
answered. ‘“‘I wish we could get across there 
without exhibiting ourselves to the whole 
country.” 

“T believe the boy that rode the mule is over 
there!’ Frank suggested. | 

“Yes; and he’s probably been picked up by 
the moonshiners,”’ Ned agreed. ‘‘ We’ve got to 
get. over there, so here goes!” : 

The boys went across the streak of moonlight 
like a couple of flashes, and drew up at the mouth 
of the cavern. So far as they could determine 
no one had observed them. 

They crept to the very back of the cave and 
huddled close together, listening. 

“Not a soul in sight!’ Frank whispered. 
“That might have been a ghost!” — 

“Do ghosts rattle metal?” asked Ned. 

There followed another silence, and then the 
clink of metal came clearer to the ears of the 
listening boys. 


CONFESSION OF A PHOTOGRAPR:- 93 


““Where does it come from?” asked Frank. 
“There’s not a crack in sight in this rock.” 

A puff of soft coal gas wafted into the cave, 
causing the boys to hold their breaths. Then, 
in spite of all he could do to prevent it, Frank 
sneezed. 

Almost instantly a dark figure appeared be- 
tween the place where the boys were hidden and 
the space of moonlight in front. The man 
stepped out, looked up and down the canyon, and 
came slowly back to meet another figure. 

“Nothing doing!” a gruff voice said. 

“But that wasn’t any bird!’ insisted another 
oruff voice. 

“Well, you may look for yourself!” 

“T tell you,” the second speaker went on, 
“that those boys are still out in the hills! When 
I was at the camp there was only one in the tent, 
and he sat there with a gun in his lap, watching 
for the others to come back.”’ 

“Did you speak with him?”’ 

“What for would I speak with him?” 

“To get his story. What are they here for? 
That is worth knowing.” 

“Well, I didn’t show myself beraees we're 
not supposed to be here ourselves!’ came the 
other voice. “If you hadn’t built the fire out- 
side to-night we’d have been in no danger. Now 
we've got a lot of boys sneaking around. What 
did you do with the others?” 


94 THE BOY SCOUT CAMERA CLUB; OR 


‘“They’re in the work-room.”’ 

‘In the work-room, seeing everything! You’re 
a bright lot! You know now, I suppose that 
we've got to leave those lads here when,we go 
away?” 


“T have known that all along. There are 


plenty of kids in the world. These won’t be 
missed. It is a bad job, but it must be done!’ 
“They shouldn’t have come sneaking around!” 
The two men disappeared again, but this 


time Ned saw the opening to the work-room, as" 
they had termed the underground apartment, 
when they swung an imitation rock made of — 


plank aside and stepped down. For a moment 
their figures were illumined by the red light of 
the fire within, and then they were no longer in 
sight. 


“'They’re a cheerful pair!’ Frank whispered. 


‘“‘Counterfeiters!’’? Ned wh in reply. 
‘“‘And murderers!’’ 

“How are we going to get the boys out?” 
asked Frank. ‘‘They’ll be killed if we don’t.” 

‘“‘One must raise a ruction on the outside, and 
the other must sneak in while the outlaws are 
gone. That is the only way I can think of now. 
If you go out there and get Uncle Ike, and coax 
a couple of sobs out of him, and r&ttle stones, 


- elt al ie iN Pi, - 


: CONFESSION OF A PHOTOGRAPH 95 


and shoot your automatic like rain, the outlaws 
~ may all rush out of the cave.” 

“T can do all that, but how will you get in?” 

“When they run out, they will pass me. 
Then I'll get in through the door,”’ Ned replied. 
“Tf there’s no one in there it won’t take me long 
to find the boys and turn them loose.”’ 

“But if there is some one in there?” 

“Then you'll hear shooting,’’ Ned answered, 
grimly. ‘“‘In that case, mount the mule and 
get back to camp and bring Jack and Oliver and 
a lot of guns.” 

“But one of those boys must be in there,” 
Frank insisted. ‘“‘Some one rode Ike here!’ 

“We don’t know who it is that is here,” Ned 
reflected. “Anyway, you’ve got to get away 
with the mule after making all that noise. 
Don’t go in the direction of the Brady cabin. 
We don’t want that man Bradley mixing us up 
with police officers!’’ 

“Every minute counts!’ Frank declared. 
“Tm off. You'll hear a racket like the blowing 
up of a world in about three minutes! Good 
luck!” 

The lads shook hands and parted. It seemed 
to each one that the other was going to his 
death, but only encouraging words were spoken. 


f 
96 THE BOY SCOUT CAMERA CLUB; OR 


In five minutes a horrible clamor rang down > 


the canyon. Uncle Ike screamed, and the beat- 
ing of hoofs sounded like a charge of cavalry. 
Then came sharp, quick pistol shots. 

Three men dashed out of the cavern and Ned 
crept in at the open door! 


“T don’t know what I shall find in here!’ he 


mused, as he came into the light of a great fire, 
— “but Pil know all about it right soon!” 


CONFESSION OF A PHOTOGRAPH 97 
RIOT RTE Ss TE SEA TN Bn A TR RRS RS SER MS ET ED, LS 


CHAPTER X 
“PACKED AWAY LIKE SARDINES”’ 


Even in that underground room Ned could 
hear the shooting outside and the screams of the 
ageravated mule. Several weapons seemed to 
be pouring out lead, and the boy wondered if 
the outlaws were getting the range of his chum. 

The firing seemed to grow fainter as he ad- 
vanced into the room. Either the outlaws were 
pursuing Frank or the shooters were taking 
refuge behind rocks which deadened the sound. 

At first the boy kept his eye out for an attack 
on himself, but there seemed to be none of the 

outlaws left in the subterranean place. The 
fire was built at one side, and the light from it 
filled the whole apartment. Counterfeit dollars 
lay about, scattered over the floor as if dropped 
in great haste. 

Halting in the center of the room, after clos- 
ing and baring the outer door, Ned put his 
fingers to his lips and gave out a low whine, one 
of the signals used by the boys of the Wolf 
Patrol. While he listened for a response, the 
firing outside came nearer, or appeared from the 
sound to do so. 


98 THE BOY SCOUT CAMERA CLUB; OR 


‘“‘T’d be in a nice fix if they should seek to 
retreat to the cave!’ Ned thought. 

While he listened an answer came to his 
call—the low, sharp signal of the Wolves! 

““That’s Jimmie!’ Ned muttered. ‘He’s in 
some of the holes just outside this room.” 

“Where are you?” he asked, and the answer 
came with a giggle. 

‘““We’re packed away like saudi Come 
get us out! We’re only tied with ropes, but 
the ropes know their business! Here! To the 
right of the fire!” 

Ned soon found that the wall at the point 
indicated was of plank, like the door, painted 
and sanded to imitate rock. He had no dif- 
ficulty in finding the opening, and in a short | 
time the boys were relieved of their bonds. Ned 
opened his eyes wide at sight of Dode, the fourth 
boy, and of Oliver, who had been left at bee 
camp. 

‘“‘What’s the shooting outside?” asked Jimmie, 
stretching his arms, cramped from long confine- 
ment. ‘‘Who’s out there with Uncle Ike? Say, 
but I was glad to hear the gentle voice of that 
wicked old mule!” . 

‘‘And now,” Teddy observed, “how about 
getting out of this? I’m hungry.” | 

If Frank keeps that racket going,’ Ned 


answered, motioning the group toward the door he j 


CONFESSION OF A PHOTOGRAPH 99 


by which he had entered, “we may be able to 
get out without being seen. You can tell me 
how you got caged later on. Now we'll try the 
door.” 

“Wait!” whispered Jimmie. 

“Wait!” said Dode. 

Ned turned and faced both boys with enquir- 
ing eyes. 

“Why wait?” he asked. 

“T want my gun!” Jimmie replied. “They 
searched us and put the plunder in that alcove 
in the rock on the other side of the fire. We'll 
need the guns, I take it.” 

The three boys, Jimmie, Teddy, and Oliver, 
made a quick rush for the alcove and soon came 
back with their guns and electrics. The firing 
outside was again farther away, and the chances 
for getting out without being attacked appeared 
to be good.” 

“What is it?’”’ Ned asked Bode as he pulled 
at his sleeve. 

“There’s another door,” the lad explained. 
“‘It opens on the slope on the west side of the 
ridge we are under. Wecan go that way with- 
out being seen.” 

“‘That’s just the thing!’ Jimmie exclaimed. 
““We can get out and join Frank in the mess 
outside! Then I reckon we'll put the skids 
under the outlaws!’ 


100 THE BOY SCOUT CAMERA CLUB; OR 


Dode led the way to the opening indicated, 
passed, with the others at his heels, through a 
long passage, and finally came to a plank door : 
which was securely fastened on the inside. F rom 
this position the racket outside became only a 
hum. 

The boy unfastened the door and swung it 
ins de. Beyond lay the slope, and, beyond that, 
the valley and the distant mountains. ‘The air 
of the night wes sweet and clear after the close 
atmosphere of the underground room. 

From the other side of the ridge, which was 
hot very high, came shots and the vicious 
shrieks of a pestered mule! Ned turned to the 
south, from which direction the clamor came, 
and passed as swiftly as possible along the slant 
of the elevation. | 

‘“‘ Are you going to attack the outlaws from the 
rear?’ asked Teddy. ‘“ Weare taking the wrong 
course if you want to go back to camp.” — 

“Huh!” Jimmie. eruntes, trudging along puf- 
fing at every breath, ‘we've got to find Frank © 
and Uncle Ike, I guess.” 

When the party came to the end of the ridge 
under which the counterfeiters had been work- — 
ing, they faced the valley, some distance away, 
in which the cabin of Mary Brady stood. 
Through the moonlight they could just distin- 
guish the crude stone chimney of the structure. 


CONFESSION OF A PHOTOGRAPH 101: 


“Now, Ned,’’ Jimmie explained, ‘if we turn 
up the slope here and do a little shooting when 
we reach a good elevation, the counterfeiters 
will think they are being attacked by a fresh 
party and duck back to the cave. Then Frank 
can come along with that blessed old mule. 
Did you ever hear a lop-eared old rascal of th 
mule tribe make such a racket? I wonder wha 
Frank was doing to him?” 

“T know!” Teddy broke in. . “ He was ticklin | 
him with his heels. That makes Uncle Ik 
half crazy! ‘There goes another yell! Fine oc 
bird, is Uncle Ike!” 

It was plain to the boys that the battle wa: 
quite a distance to the south and leading dow 
into the valley, so they began the ascent of thy 
rocky slope and continued up until they were 
all out of breath. Then they stopped and 
looked back. 

The outlaws came into sight, in a minute 
making for their cave. They fired an occasiona 
shot as they retreated, and this fact convincea 
the boys that Frank had not been wounded by 
any of the shots which had been fired at him, 

“We'll quicken their steps a trifle!’ Ned said. 
“You boys go on up to the next shelf and I'll 
fire from here. They may charge us, and if 

. they do I can cover your retreat. Besides, you 
will have a longer start.” 


102 THE BOY SCOUT CAMERA CLUB; OR ; 


aed 


“T’m going to stay right here and shoot, too! 
Jimmie declared. “Those men have several — 
bumps coming from me!” 

“ Ain’t he the great little gunman?” CAN 
Teddy. 

“But I need you up there with the others to 
protect my retreat,’ urged Ned, so Jimmie 
unwillingly toiled up the acclivity. They came 
to a shelf perhaps three hundred feet beyond 
Ned’s stand and crouched down. 

Ned’s fire, when it came, had the effect of 
sending the outlaws on a run toward their cave, 
so the boy jomed the others without facing a 
return fire. 7 

“'They’ll be out again when they see what’s 
been going on at the cave!”’ Jimmie predicted, 
but the prophecy was not a good one, for no 
figures were seen 1n the canyon after that, and no 
more shots were fired from that direction. 

‘“‘T know what the bogus money-makers will 
do now,” Jimmie snickered. “They'll pack up © 
their tools and vanish! 'They’ll be thinking the 
whole Secret Service bunch is after them!’ 

‘“‘That’s just the trouble,’ Ned said. ‘I’m 
afraid the mountaineers will also think we are 
Secret Service Operates and spies and make 
trouble for us.’ } 

‘We'll have to get busy with our cameras, 
then,” Jimmie wen: on, ‘‘and take pictures of 


sat, ha . 


Fe 
= 


CONFESSION OF A PHOTOGRAPH 103 


everything in sight. We may be believed if we 
tell the truth, that we blundered on their cave 
and ‘they attacked us. I wonder why Frank 
doesn’t show up? He may have been killed or 
wounded!”’ 

“Tf he has been hurt,” Teddy observed, as 
the sound of hoofs came trom the south, “‘ Uncle 
Ike hasn’t, for here he comes, ugly as ever.” 

Believing that Frank was indeed approaching, 
the boys fired a number of shots to direct his 
course and waited. The hoofbeats, the labored 
breathing of the mule, became more distinct 
directly, and then Frank came into sight. 

The greeting he received was a warm one, and 
Uncle Ike was petted and permitted to search 
every pocket for sugar! 

“T don’t see how you escaped being hit,’’ Ned 
observed. ‘The outlaws fired enough shots to 
cripple an army.” : 

“They never saw me,” declared Frank. “I 
kept behind ridges and outcropping rocks, and 
in the shadows. ‘They were afraid to come too 

close, for they must have thought a dozen men 
were attacking them. Whenever I fired I 
changed my position, and when Uncle Ike 
yelled I hustled him along! I reckon a good 
many of the shots you heard came from my 
gun! When you began shooting that settled 
it! They will be fifty miles from here by to- 
morrow noon!” 


\ 


104 THE BOY SCOUT CAMERA CLUB; OR 


“That’s likely, for they won’t dare remain 


here after they have been caught at their work,” 
Ned admitted. ‘“‘Moonshiners might remain 


and fight, but counterfeiters will get away right 


soon. I take it they don’t belong to this section 
anyway.” 


On the way to the camp, during the brief | 


rests, Jimmie explained how they had been sur- 
prised while in the outer cave and had been taken 
inside and tied up. The boy Dode was over- 
joyed at his eacape from the gang, and explained 
that they had captured him not far from Wash- 
ington and forced him to accompany them, the 
idea being to use him in the future in Betis rid 
of the spurious coins. 

“They are making a lot of it,” he jecaeaa! 

“and the country will be flooded with their 
work if the government doesn’t catch them.” 


It may be well to state here that the reason- — 


ing of the boys with regard to the future actions 
of the outlaws was correct, as they disappeared 


from that section that night. When the lads » 


visited the cave later on some of the counterfeit 
coin which hdd been made was still scattered 
about the subterranean room. 

When they first reached the camp Jack was 
hot in s ght, but he soon appeared, coming from | 
a8 hiding place near the summit. 

“T thought I’d better not expose myself by 


CONFESSION OF A PHOTOGRAPH 105 


remaining in the tent,’’ he explained, ‘‘so ducked 
away, and hid where I could watch the mules 
and the provisions without being seen. I had 
about made up my: mind that the state militia 
had been called out, you made such a. racket!” 

“We're going to give Uncle Ike a medal, also 
a barrel of sugar, for heroic conduct in the face 
of the enemy!’ Jimmie declared, and the mule, 
for once in his life, found a full pocket when he 
nosed about for sweet lumps! 

While the lads were eating a delayed supper, 
Jack turned to Oliver with a mock frown on 
his face. | 

“The next time you go away in the night and 
leave me alone in camp,” he said, “I’m going to 
break your dial in! I might have been shot 
while asleep. According to the conversation 
between the outlaws, just related by Jimmie, 
one of the toughs came up here! Don’t you 
ever do that again, if you want to keep a whole 

hide.” 
— “T guess Uncle Ike has a larger kick coming 
than you have!’ Jimmie remarked. 

When the boys compared notes and thoughts 
concerning the child, the old lady, and the 
blonde stranger, they could not agree at all. 
Some of them insisted that the boy was Mike 
III., while the others declared that he was the 
prince!” 


106 THE BOY SCOUT CAMERA CLUB; OR — 


“Tf he isn’t the grandson,” one asked, ‘‘ why 
this American slang?”’ 

‘And if he is,’’ questioned another, “‘ why this 
talk about French and other foreign languages? 
Mike III. wouldn’t know a foreign tongue, 
would he?” | 


CONFESSION OF A PHOTOGRAPH 107 


CHAPTER XI 
JACK’S ELEGANT CHICKEN PIE 


The sun was high over the mountains when 
Ned awoke on the morning following the ad- 
venture with the counterfeiters. Leaving Jim- 
mie, Frank, Teddy and Oliver in their bunks and 
Dode, the new acquisition to the party, curled 
up In a nest of blankets, he issued forth from the 
tent and looked about for Jack, who had been 
left on guard. | 

The boy was nowhere in sight at first, then he 
- saw him at a spring which bubbled out of the 

mountain not far from the corral. It was the © 
water from this spring which brought forth the 
tender grass upon which the mules were feeding. 

Jack looked up with a shout when he saw Ned, 
and came running up to the camp, carrying In 
one hand a pail in which three large-sized 
chickens lay, nicely boiled, carved and washed. 

“What do you think of that?” he demanded, 
pushing the pail up under Ned’s nose. “TI 
guess we’re some hustlers for sustenance!” 

“Where did you get the hens?’ asked Ned. 
“They sure look good to me.” 

“You couldn’t guess in a thousand years!’ 
Jack replied. “So I’m going to tell you, right 


[08 THE BOY SCOUT CAMERA CLUB; OR © 


off the handle! Judd Bradley, the blonde 
fellow who. brought the boy in, came up with 
them, with the compliments of Mrs. Brady, 
about an hour ago. He brought the boy up 
with him, too. What do you know about that?”’ 

“Ts it the prince, or is it Mike III.?’’ asked 
Ned, with a smile. | 

“Tf you leave it to me,” Jack answered quite - 
positively, ‘‘it is the prince!” 

“How does he look and act this morning?” 

“‘Like a kid raised under restraint, now free 
and full of the de—Old Nick!’ 

‘“‘And Bradley?’’ asked Ned. | 

“'That’s another point! He watches the kid 
every second of the time, and when the boy 
speaks a word of French he looks daggers at 
him! I reckon the son of Mike II. wouldn’t be 
talking French! Nor he wouldn’t be here with 
a chaperon from Washington. We have found 
the prince, all right, and I’m sorry for 1t! It 
makes our work too easy!’’ 

“Don’t crow until you’re out of the woods!”’ 
laughed Ned. ‘‘ There may be a few adventures 
in store for us yet! So this seven-year-old boy 
talks French, does he?”’ 3 

‘You bet he does! Like a native!” 

“Where are they now—Bradley and the boy, I 
mean?”’ ons 
“Down by the mules! The boy, who is con- ~ " 


ot 


CONFESSION OF A PHOTOGRAPH 109 


stantly called Mike—ostentatiously called by 
that name—wants to ride Uncle Ike! Fat time 
he'll have if he gets aboard of that argumentative 
brute!’ | 

“Are they going to help eat the chicken?” 
asked Ned. 

“Sure! I told them to stick around until I 
got the most beautiful chicken pie built they 
ever touched tongue to. They’re going to stay. 
You go and talk with them while I make the 
pie. It is going to be a corker—melt in your 
mouth, make you dream of the old red barn 

down on the farm!” 

_ “Eyer make a chicken pie?” asked Ned. 

“Of course not! There’s got to be a first 
time to everything! But I know how. I’ve 
got a recipe here which is used by the chef at 
Sherry’s.”’ 

“Go to it!’ laughed Ned. “Dll take my 
chances on having canned meat for dinner.”’ 

“You just wait!’ roared Jack, as Ned dashed © 
down to the spring. 

Jack stood a moment, pail in hand, watching 
Ned washing at the spring, and then went on to 
the fire, leaving Ned to proceed to the corral 
and entertain the guests. 

Jimmie was just tumbling out of the tent 
when Jack came up with the chicken. That 
young man immediately set up a shout which 


f 


/ 
} 


110 THE BOY SCOUT CAMERA CLUB; OR 


awakened the others and brought them out 
rubbing their eyes. . 
“‘Chicken for breakfast!’ he shouted. 
“Chicken pie for dinner!’ Jack corrected. 
“All right!’ sighed the boy. “Then I’ll cook 
a couple of pounds of ham and a couple of dozen 
eges*for breakfast! That ought to keep us 
alive until you get the pie ready!” 
‘“How do you make chicken pie?” demanden 


Frank. ‘I’ve always wanted to know how to - 


make a pie out of a hen.” . 
“You just watch me,’ Jack answered, not 
without a touch of pride, ‘‘and I'll show how it 


is done. Here, young man, don’t set down on 


my dough! ‘That’s for the crust.” | 

Jimmie bounded off a camp stool where the 
cook had deposited his crust-dough on a clean 
white paper and watched Jack line a six-quart 
tin pail with the mixture of flour, water and 
baking powder. 

“That ain’t thick enough!” he commented. 
‘The crust ought to be an inch thick.” 

“You go out and feed the mules!” ordered 
Jack. ‘When I want any help in making a 
chicken pie I won’t call on you!” 

“Anyway,” Jimmie insisted, “it ought to be 
an inch thick.” | 

Jack laid the pieces of chicken in the bed of 
dough—the chickens having been cooked tender 


CONFESSION OF A PHOTOGRAPH ill 


long before Ned was out of his blankets—and 
put in salt, pepper, a small piece of butter—out 
of a glass can!—and then poured in some of the 
liquid the chickens had been stewed in.”’ 

“Tf there should happen to be a drumstick 
you can’t get in,” Jimmie volunteered, “I can 
eat it for breakfast!’ 

“So that’s why you wanted the crust so 
thick!’ cried Jack. ‘‘You wanted to crowd the 
chicken out so you could stuff yourself with a 
hen for breakfast! Run along and play you’r 
a baker’s wagon delivering goods onthe Bowery!” 

“You're the wise little man—not!’’ Jimmie 
grunted and set about cooking ham and eggs for 
breakfast. 

“How long will it take that chicken pie to 
cook?” asked Teddy. 

“Couple of hours,’’ replied Jack. ‘Some- 
‘times it takes longer.”’ 

Jack prepared a great bed of coals, drew up 
dry wood to make more, and set the pail of 
chicken pie in the heavy doubie oven to cook. 

“T’m making this ’specially light and sweet,”’ 
he said, poking the coals up to the oven, ‘“‘be- 
cause we’re going to have a prince of the royal 
blood to breakfast.”’ 

“Where is he?” asked Jimmie, with a grin, 

““Down by the mules! He brought these 

chickens to us—or his chaperon did! Rather 


t 


112 THE BOY SCOUT CAMERA CLUB; OR 


thoughtful of him! Say, Frank,’ Jack added, 
‘will you go down to the corral and take a lot 


of snapshots of the kid? I want to send some 


home to Chicago, just to convince the boys 
I’ve been dining with royalty.” 
“Dining with Mike III.,” Frank laughed. 


“Tt is dollars to dills that the boy trying to get — 


on Uncle Ike’s back is fresh from the Washing- 
ton slums!” ; 

‘“‘Look you here, little man,” Jack began, but 
just at that moment Ned, Bradley, and the boy 
appeared on the slope, headed for the camp. 
The boy was seated. on the back of Uncle Ike, 
who, for a wonder, was marching along sedately, 
as if accustomed to being made the plaything of 
children. 

‘“‘T wouldn’t have believed it of him!” Jimmie 
muttered. ‘I wouldn’t have trusted a kid on 
that wild animal’s back any sooner than I 
would have trusted eggs to a hay-baler. Uncle 
Ike’s sure going into a decline!”’ 

The boy came riding up ahead of the others 
and shouted to Jimmie: 

“Gardez! A chevall’’ he shouted, urging tha 
mule into a trot. 

“That’s your kid from the Washington 
slums!’ Jack laughed, scornfully. ‘Talking 
French!’’ 

“What does he say?” dembhden Jimmie. 


CONFESSION OF A PHOTOGRAPH 113 


“He says for you to be on your guard—to 
look out for yourseif—as he is coming on horse- 
back. I don’t know much French, but that is 
easy !’’ 3 

Bradley hastened to the boy’s side and said 
something to him in a tone which the others 
could not hear, the lad coloring slightly as he 
listened. 

““He’s jawing him for speaking French!’ 
Jimmie commented. 

“Tt looks like it,” Jack observed. “Oh, I 
reckon we ve got the prince all right. I wonder 
when we are going to start back to Washington 
with him, and if Ned will pinch that blonde 
beauty who brought him in?” 

Unele Ike stopped at the campfire and stuck 
his nose into Jimmie’s pocket, looking for sugar. _ 
‘Mike III., as some of the boys insisted on 
thinking of the little fellow, dropped off and 
seized the animal by the tail and began to pull. 
Frank ran to get the child out of his dangerous 
position, but Uncle Ike merely looked around 
to see what it was that was pulling his tail 
winked one eye at Frank, and went on searching 
pockets. 

“That mule sure gets my goat!’ grinned 
Jimmie. ‘‘What do you think of his standing 
still while his tail is being pulled?” 

By this time Jimmie had prepared breakfast, 


114 THE BOY SCOUT CAMERA CLUB; OR 


and the boys gathered about the fire with tin 
plates on their knees, and devoured ham and 
eges, baked beans, and bread and butter and 
coffeewithamountainrelish. MikelIII.ate what 
was given to him at the first helping and then 
clamored for more.- Bradley whispered some- 
thing in his ear, bat the boy pushed him off 
with a scowl: 

** Alles-vous en!” he cried, angrily. 

Jack snickered and Frank looked as if he had 
made a mistake in his estimate of the boy and 
knew it! Bradley drew the boy away, but 
Jimmie hastened to replenish his plate. 

‘‘Let the kid have all he wants!” he said. 
‘We can cook more. We’re going to have a 
chicken pie for dinner, and he’ll like that.” 

“Seems to me it is about time Jack was 
looking after that pie,’’ Frank suggested. 

‘Pretty near forgot it!’ Jack admitted, go- 
ing to the oven and opening the door so as to 
look inside at the dainty. 

Something took place when he did that! The 
Square piece of metal flew back on its hinges 
with a thump, and cut of the oven flew the 
cover of the tin pail in which the chicken pie 
had been tucked. It shot across the fire and 


struck Jimmie under the ear and then rolled — 


back into the blaze! 
“Jerusalem!” cried the boy. ‘‘What you 
shootin’ at me for?’’ | 


" 


CONFESSION OF A PHOTOGRAPH 115 


No attention was paid to what the boy said, 
for at that moment a wave of dough, spotted 
here and there with pieces of chicken, puffed 
out of the pail and tumbled over Jack’s stooping 
shoulders and on into the fire, where it continued 
to grow until the fire half consumed it. 

“Catch the chicken!’ yelled Frank. ‘‘He’s 
running away.” 

Jack tried to keep the dough in the oven, but 
it rolled out and covered his hands and arms 
with a sticky mess. The little fellow screamed 
with delight. 

‘Oh, oh, de mal en pis!’ he shouted. 

‘‘Grab the chicken!’ shouted Teddy. ‘‘We 
can finish breakfast on that!’ 

While the mess was being cleared up, Frank 
asked Jack: 

“How much baking powder did you put into 
that dough?” 

“Only one can!’”’ was the reply, and Frank 
went away and rolled on the ground! 

“Say,” Jimmie whispered to Jack, who was 
scraping the chicken pie off his clothes, ‘what 
did the kid say when he pushed Bradley away, 
and when the pie busted?”’ 

“Tirst. he said ‘be off with you,’ or ‘let me 
alone;’ next he said ‘from bad to worse.’ Or 
something like that. Look at Bradley. He’s 
calling him down for it, right now. I’m going 


116 THE BOY SCOUT CAMERA CLUB; OR 


to talk French to that kid when Bradley goes 
away. I’m going to know about this three Mike 
and this prince business!’ 


CONFESSION OF A PHOTOGRAPH 117 


CHAPTER XII 
_ THE BLACK HAND GAME 


Shortly after breakfast, and after what re- 
mained of the chickens had been eaten, Bradley 
and his charge left the camp, after inviting the 
boys to visit them in the cabin in the valley. 
Bradley appeared anxious to be friendly, and 
seemed absolutely frank in his talks. The only 
suspicious thing they noticed in him was his 
jealous care of the boy—his reproaches when the 
lad had indulged in a word or two of French! 

“You bet I'll visit you at the cabin!” Jack 
said, as the two disappeared over the summit. 
“T’ll be there with the lingo, too! I can soon 
find out from the boy what he knows of the 
French language! Of course I’ll be down to 
the cottage! 

‘Bradley will see that you don’t talk with the 
boy alone! Jimmie declared. 
“T’ll catch him doing it! was Jack’s reply. 

“What do you think about it, Ned?,” asked 
Frank. ‘Is that the prince, or is 1t Mike III.? 
You may have all the guesses you need. 

“First,’’ Ned said, turning to Jack and 
Frank, ‘“‘tell me what the boy said when he 
spoke in French. 


i118 THE BOY SCOUT CAMERA CLUB; OR 


Jack repeated the interpretations as previously 
given, and Ned remained in a thoughtful mood 
for a long time. Then he went into the tent, 
without answering any questions, and began 
overhauling the stock of reading matter brought 
along. 

When he found what he wanted to he threw 
himself on the bunk where he had slept and read 
steadily for an hour or more. At least he held 
to the book for that length of time, turning the 
leaves rapidly at times, and then not at all for 
several minutes. 

‘“‘What’s he up to? asked Teddy. ‘‘Some- 
thing on his alleged mind!”’ 

“Tl go and find out what he’s reading,” 
Jimmie volunteered. : 
The boy entered the tent, but was back in a 

moment with a broad grin on his face. 

‘‘It is a French dictionary! he gasped. “‘Ned 
is learning French, so he can talk with the prince 
in his native tongue! | 

“The prince isn’t French! Jack declared. 
“He belongs away in the East somewhere. © 
French is the polite language of Europe, so of 
course, he’s been taught it!” 

After a time Ned came to the door of the tent 
and beckoned to Jimmie. 

‘Suppose we go and get some pictures of the 
mountains,” he said, when the boy entered. 


CONFESSION OF A PHOTOGRAPH 119 


“We haven’t taken a snap-shot since we came 
here. 

‘I’m strong for it!’ Jimmie declared. ‘‘We 
might go and take a fewsnaps at the counter- 
feiter’s den. That will be fine!’ 

“What’s that?’ demanded Frank Shaw, pok- 
ing his nose into the tent. ‘Going to take 
pictures of the counterfeiters den! I’m in on 
that. We'll take a bunch of pictures—enough 
for a first-page layout—and send ’em in to dad’s 
newspaper. Hot stuff! What? And I’ll write 
the biography of Uncle Ike, and send it in with 
the rest. His picture ought to goin the center 
of the layout. He’ll bea hero, allright.” | 

“All right!’ Ned agreed. ‘We'll go and take 
the pictures, and we'll send them in when you 
get the story written! Will that answer?” 

“Sure it will!” 

So Ned, Jimmie, and Frank started away 
laughing, for all knew Frank would never write 
_ thestory, toward the counterfeiters’ cave. When 
they came in sight of the ridge which jutted out 
of the slope to make the canyon, andunder which 
the workroom was situated, they saw a man 
moving northward, keeping close to the jagged 
summit of the lesser elevation, and looking 
sharply about as he advanced. 

“That may be one of them,’’ Jimmie sug- 
gested. | 


/ 


120 THE BOY SCOUT CAMERA CLUB; OR 


“I don’t believe it!’ Frank contradicted. 
“What do you think, Ned?” he added. 

‘Never saw the outlaws,’’ Ned answered, ‘‘so 
T can’t decide the question. ‘‘Still, I doubt if 
one of the counterfeiters is within fifty miles of 
this spot now.”’ 

“'That’s the idea!’ Frank said. ‘‘Of course 
the shooting of last night would draw out the 
natives. There’ll be dozens around the caves 
to-day.”’ 

The boys walked on to the canyon, taking 
snap-shots of everything they saw. The slope, 
the canyon, the valley to the west, the green 
valley to the south, the shallow cave from which 
the entrance to the workroom gave, all were 
transferred to films to await development. When 
at last they entered the shallow cave they paused. 

“There may be some of them in a yet,” 
Frank suggested. | 

‘‘Not to-day!’ Ned replied. “There : are too 
many strangers about!” 

They entered cautiously. There was now no 
fire on the stone hearth, and the atmosphere 
of the place was damp and chill, as well as dark. 
Here and there a break in the rocky roof above— 
the ceiling of the apartment was very near to the 
surface of the outcropping ridge—let in a shaft 
of light, but for the most part the apartment was 
in heavy shadows. 3 


" 


fr \ 


CONFESSION OF A PHOTOGRAPH 121. 


Ned took out his electric light and turned it 
enquiringly about the room. Counterfeit money 
still lay scattered over the floor. The melting 
pot and the dies were on the cold iron sheif 
where they had been left, and even a coat hung 
against the wall. | 

“They got out in a hurry,’ Jimmie declared. 

“And they are not likely to come back in a 
hurry!’ Ned added. 

Frank paced the apartment off, set his camera 
tripod, and got out his powder. 

““You boys stand over on the other side,”’ he 
requested, as he moved back to his tripod, “and 
when I give the word you, Jimmie, touch off 
this flash.”’ 

“What do you want a view of that corner 
for?” asked Jimmie. -“‘ You are too close, any- 
way, to get a good picture.” 

‘“T’m going to have a picture of every corner, 
and the middle, and the roof, and the chimney, 
and everything about the blooming place!” 
Frank declared. | 

“Wait a minute!’ Jimmie shouted. ‘TI’ll 
hide in the passage we went out of last night, 
and when you are ready to spring the print I’ll 
look out, with a fierce expression on my pretty 
face. That will make the picture look like the 
real brigandish thing. What?” 

“All right,” laughed Frank, “get in there! 


122 THE BOY SCOUT CAMERA CLUB; OR — 


It is only an excuse for getting your mug into ~ 


dad’s newspaper, but we'll let it go.” 

Frank and Ned busied themselves for half an 
hour or more, taking pictures and looking over 
the implements used in the manufacture of 
spurious coin. At length, when they returned 
to the outer cave, they remembered that Jimmie 
had not returned from the west passage to the 
workroom, and Ned went there to look for him. 
He was not there, nor‘was he in any of the niches 
or shallow openings in the rocky walls. Ned 
called to him, but hedid notreply. Then Frank 
came running into the passage and joined in the 


hunt. In vain! Jimmie was nowhere to be 


found. 

‘Wherever he is,” Frank said, after a long 
search, ‘“‘he has his camera with him.”’ 

‘“‘T didn’t see him have one,” Ned replied. 
“You must be mistaken.” | 

“It was the baby camera he had,’ Frank 
explained. ‘He carried it under his coat. The 
little monkey has doubtless gone off on a 
picture-making tour of his own.” 

“That is just like him,’ Ned agreed, ‘‘so 
we'll go on about our business and let him 
present himself when he gets ready.” 

‘He seemed to take quite an interest in that 
child,’ Frank suggested, ‘‘and he may have gone 
on to the cabin.’ | 


a Na ae 


CONFESSION OF A PHOTOGRAPH [23 


“We may as well go that way and thank the 
old lady for the hens Jack didn’t make into a 
pie,”’ Ned observed. ‘‘I’d like another look at 
that child myself.” 

‘Ts it the prince, or is it Mike ITI. ”” laughed 
Frank. 

Ned smiled, but made noreply. They walked 
on down the slope and connected with the valley 
at the south end of the ridge. When they came 
to the cabin they found Mrs. Mary Brady sitting 
in the doorway, the child playing on the ground 
—heaten hard by years of wear—in front of her. 
She arose as they appeared, and the boy darted 
off into the fenced garden farther to the south, 
looking back with a grin from behind the stake- 
and-rider fence. 

“Good day to you, young gentlemen,” the 
old lady said. ‘‘I hope you passed a pleasant 
night! The mountain air is good for those who 
seek sleep.” 

Then it occurred to Ned that neither Bradley 
nor the child had referred in any way to the 
shooting of the night before, though, if at the 
cabin, they must have heard it. He regarded 
the old lady keenly as he:said: 

“Has any one seen anything of the outlaws 
to-day?”’ 

“The outlaws?’”’ repeated the other. 

“You heard nothing in the night?”’ Ned asked. 


: 
$ 


124 THE BOY SCOUT CAMERA CLUB; OR 


“T thought I heard a gunshot now and then,”’ 
was the indifferent reply, ‘‘but they are too 
common here to attract attention. Did the ( 
‘shooting disturb you?”’ 

Ned did not believe the old lady had lebih 
through the furious fusilades of shots of the night 
before. What her motive was in ignoring the » 
matter he could not understand, but he dec:ded 
to set himself right with her and also with her 
mountain friends by ges: of the events of the 
night. 

If they were to remain long in that section, 
it was quite necessary, he thought, that tie 
natives should understand that the boys of the 
Camera Club were not there to spy on counter- 
feiters or the moonshiners, if any there were in 
that region. 

So he told her that the boys had blundered on 
the workroom of the counterfeiters, had been 
suspected of being spies sent by the government 
‘and seized, and finally had been released by 
strategy. He added that they were not there 
to molest the people of the district, whatever 
their occupation might be, but to take pictures 
and have a long vacation in the health-giving 
mountain air.’ 

“And I hope you'll pass the ae along,” 
he closed, “so that your friends will not regard 
usasenemies. Weare anxioustomeetasmany _ 


CONFESSION OF A PHOTOGRAPH 125 


of them as possible, and to be on good terms with 
them.” 

This was strictly true, as the boys were not 
there to convict any of the natives, whatever 
their offenses might be, but to deal with the 
strangers who had abducted the prince from his 
home in Washington. Ned was certain that 
no one belonging in that region had had a hand 
in the crime, although he suspected that some 
of them might innocently harbor the outlaws 
he was in quest of. 

The old lady listened to Ned’s story and his 
explanation with a startled face. 

“T’m sure,” she said, ‘‘that no one belonging 
here was interested in the counterfeiting gang 
you boys came upon. I am sure, too, that no 
one will blame you for what you did. Weare 
law-abiding people, but our mountains con- 
stitute a secure refuge for some who are not 
worthy of protection.” 

Ned was more than pleased at the outcome of 
the matter, for he was sure the old lady would 
take pains to set the matter before her friends 
in the correct light. The conversation soon 
changed to other subjects. The child did not 
return, and directly Frank saw him walking 
along a distant hillside, hand-in-hand with 
Bradley. 

‘Mr. Bradley seems to stick close to Mike,” 
he said, tentatively. | 


126 THE BOY SCOUT CAMERA CLUB; OR — 


“Never lets him out of his sight,’’ was the 
reply, and Mrs. Brady seemed to resent the 
face as stated. She evidently had little of aks 
lad’s companionship. 

When the boys reached the camp Jimmie 


had not returned, but their chums were gathered — 


around a sheet of letter paper which had, noone — 


knew how, been thrust into the tent. Jack’s 

face was deadly white as he handed it to Ned. 
“We are up against a black hand game,” he 

said. ‘‘ Jimmie has been stolen!” : 


} 


CONFESSION OF A PHOTOGRAPH 127 


CHAPTER XIII 
THREE DAYS TO MOVE IN 


Ned took the paper into his hand and read: 

““You boys are not wanted in the hills. We 
give you three days to get out. On the morning 
of the fourth day, if you are still here, we shall 
send you your friend’s right hand. On the fifth 
day you will receive his left hand. On the sixth 
day his right foot. On the seventh day his left 
foot. On the eighth day his head. If you obey 
this command he will be restored to you, in good 
health, at Cumberland.”’ 

“Ts it a joke?” asked Frank, white to the lips. 

“Tt must be!’ cried Jack. ‘‘No one would 
mutilate Jimmie.” ; 

“‘Tt is a corase joke!’ Teddy cut in. 

“T’m afraid it is no joke, boys,’’ Ned said. 
““T’m afraid we'll have to go.”’ 

‘“‘But we'll come back again!’ shouted Oliver. 
“We'll come back with a whole company of 
Boy Scouts! There are enough Boy Scouts in 
New York to tear these mountains up by the 
roots!’’ 

“But I don’t understand how they got him,’’ 
Teddy wailed. “He went away with you.” 

‘‘He went into a hidden passage to make a 


128 THE BOY SCOUT CAMERA CLUB; OR 


picturesque effect,’’ Frank said, “and did not 
return. We thought it one of his jokes, 
paid little attention to his absence. We might 
have rescued him if we had known.” 

“Of course he was seized in that passage,” 
-Dode said. ‘Did you get the picture he was to 
be in?” I. 

“Sure we did!” cried Frank. “I’ll see if he ail 
was there when the camera opened.” ? 

As he spoke the boy made a rush for his suit 
case, took out his development tank, printing 
frame and other tools, and set to cou on his 
film roll. He used two powders instead of one, 
and in ten minutes was ready for the printing. 

In a few minutes more he was at work in the 
tent, with the boys gathered around him. The 
developer had worked perfectly, notwithstanding 
the haste, and the printing was well advanced in 
the soft light of the tent. Directly he had the 
picture taken in the cave under view—the snap- 
shot of the wall showing the entrance to the 
seeret passage. 
~ “Quick work!’ Ned declared. ‘What does 
it show?” | 

They all gathered around the print, each a 
trying to get the first glance at it. 

‘‘There’s Jimmie!’ Teddy shouted. ‘ He was 
looking out of the door when the picture was 
taken! I can almost see his freckles!” 


| 


CONFESSION OF A PHOTOGRAPH 129 


“There he is, sure enough!” Frank cried. 
_ “The little monkey?’’ 

~ Ned took the print and examined it carefully, 
while the others waited for him to express any 
discoveries he might make. 

‘“‘Did you see anything back of Jimmie?’ he 
_ asked of Frank. 

‘Just the dark wall,” was the reply. 

Ned passed the print to him and left the tent. 

“Yes,” Frank said, with a threat in his voice, 
there’s a face looking over Jimmie’s shoulder. 
Oh, I wish we had known!’’ 

“Can you see the face plainly?” asked Teddy. 

“Quite plainly,” was the reply. ‘‘The door 
was open, as you see, and Jimmie stood with his 
hand on the edge of it, looking at the camera, 
his head in the room.”’ 

“Yes; that makes the picture good,’ Teddy 
observed. 

‘‘And there was a slant of light from the 
passage, and the head of the outlaw shows in 
that. He’s an ugly looking brute!’’ 

“Observe the alfalfa on his map!’ exclaimed 
Teddy. 

‘“That picture may hy him to prison!’ 
Frank cried\ ‘I hope so!” 

He put the tank, the printing frame, the 
print, and the other articles away in his suit- 
case and went ovt to where Ned was standing. 


| 


130 THE BOY SCOUT CAMERA CLUB; OR 


‘Did you see the face behind the boy?” 


asked Frank—“‘get a good look at it?” 
‘Yes,’ was the reply. “It shows that this 
isnotajoke!’’ Did you notice the face closely?’” 
“T think so.” 
“What about the beard?” 
‘Quite a growth, I should say.” 
‘‘ Anything else odd about it?” persisted Ned. 
‘‘Not that I saw,’’ was the wondering reply. 
“What about it?” 


“Tt was a false beard! The man was dis. 


guised!’ i 

Frank’s face looked, for an instant, as if he 
had received a blow. 

*‘ And I was counting on that beard,” he ane 

‘“‘as a means of identification!” - 

“Keep the print safe,’ Ned advised. ‘It 
may be useful in that way yet.” 

“Well,” Frank declared, “we've got to go 
away! We can take no chances on Jimmie 
being murdered. Isn’t that your idea?” 

“We certainly will take no such chances,” 


Ned responded. ‘Up to this time we have been | 


successful in getting out of trouble, though, and 
we may be able to rescue the boy without giv- 
ing up the search for the abducted lad.” 


‘‘Here’s another question,” Frank said, “was 


that note sent by the counterfeiters, | or are the 


— 


CONFESSION OF A PHOTOGRAPH [Si 


men interested in the abduction of the prince 
resorting to such tactics?”’ 

“T have an idea that the abductors are the 
ones who are doing it,’”’ Ned answered. 

“It may be moonshiners,” suggested Frank. 

“JT don’t think there are any illicit stills in 
this district,’ Ned replied. 

“Well, we’re up against a desperate gang 
now, anyway,’ Frank said, “and it looks as if 
they held the high cards! If we had only sus- 
pected what was going on in that passage, we 
might have rescued the boy before they got him 
away! 

-“T believe we'll do well to watch Bradley,” 
he suggested. 

“But Bradley was at the cabin when we got 
there.” 

“Oh, he had plenty of time to get Jimmie 
away and get back to the cabin!”’ Frank insisted. 
““We remained at the cave half an hour after 
Jimmie left us, and we took our time in getting 
to the cottage.” 

‘“‘ Also we took a great many snap-shots at the 
scenery,’ Ned went on. “Now, I wish you 
would take all the films out of the cameras and 
develop and print a picture of each.” 

“Tl go right at it,’ Frank replied, turning 
back to the tent. 

“And if any of the boys were taking pictures 


De 
132 THE BOY SCOUT CAMERA CLUB; OR 


about the tent, or the corral, have them de- 
veloped. It may be that one of the snap-shots 
will show the person who slipped the note into 
the tent.” | 

‘“‘T don’t see how it was ever done without the 
man being seen,”’ Frank exclaimed. 

“But it was done,’ Ned replied, ‘‘and we’ve 
got to find out when and how if we can.” 

When Frank left for the tent Ned started on 
toward the summit. He had traveled only a 
short distance when Frank came puffing after 
him. 

‘“‘Here’s another print Jack and Teddy took,” 
he said. ‘‘It shows something in the cave we 
never noticed. See if you can tell what it is.” 

Ned glanced at the print and returned it. 

“There is another opening in the wall at the 
east side,” he said. “The picture shows it. I 
noticed pomething there, but neglected to in- 
vestigate.”’ 

While the two talked Jack came up the slope, 
his camera over his shoulder. 

“T think it is about time for me to be having 
an outing,’ he said. “I’ve been in the camp 
most of the time since we’ve been here.” 

“Come along, then,’ Ned replied. “I’m ~ 
going back to the cave, and it may be just as 
well to have some one with me.’ we 

Frank went down the slope to the tent. and | a 


-* 
Lae 
wel eta 


CONFESSION OF A PHOTOGRAPH _ 133 


Ned and Jack hastened down the slope on the 
other side. They were busy with their thoughts 

and for a long time neither spoke. 

“Of course it is the abductors?” Jack asked, 
presently. 

“‘T have no doubt of it,’’ was the reply. 

“Do you connect the man Bradley with it?”’ 
was the next question. 

“There is no proof against him,’’ Ned replied. 

“But you must have some idea about it,” 
persisted Jack. 

“For all we know,”’ Ned remarked, “he may 
be entirely innocent in the abduction matter. 


_ He may have brought the real grandchild here.”’ 


“The grandchild!” repeated Jack. ‘‘Here’s 
the old question once more: ‘Is it the prince, or 
is it Mike III.?’ ” . 

“‘T have the answer to that question written 
down in my memorandum book,” Ned said. 
“T don’t want to show it to you now, because I 
may be mistaken. When the case is closed I 
will show you the entry. Then you may laugh 
sat me if you feel like it.’ 

““1’d like to see 1t now,” Jack coaxed. 

“T want all you boys to think for yourselves,”’ 
Ned went on. ‘Don’t get a theory and pound 
away at it. If you do, you'll overlook every- 
thing which doesn’t agree with that theory. 
U I should show you what I have written,you 


URES OP RPE 


ie é BH, \ Mee lean ly , 


a 
Ye Ms 4 
, 

“ 


134 THE BOY SCOUT CAMERA CLUB; OR 


might look only for clues calculated to prove 


it to be correct, or you might look only for 
opposing clues.” be 

A second examination of the counterfeiters’ 
cave revealed nothing of importance except that 
the broken wall on the east side showed a small 
room into which Jimmie and his captor might 
have fled after the abduction. Still, there was 
no proof that they had done so, Ned explained. 

“Why didn’t the little fellow yell?” asked 
Jack. 


“T think he would have yelled if that se | 


been possible!’ Ned said. 

The boys left the cave in a short time and 
passed south, toward the valley and the cabin. 
Instead of going directly to the cabin, however, 
Ned kept away to the west and came out south 
of it, in the section where Bradley had walked 
with the child. 


After a time Jack wandered away to the east, 


so as to come up on that side of the cabin. 
Although the boys had circled the building, no 
sign of life had been seen. 

While Ned was yet some distance away he 


saw Jack standing on the slope of the valley . 


watching the front door. He walked back and 
looked in at a small window in the rear wall. 
The child lay asleep on a bed er one corner of 


CONFESSION. OF A PHOTOGRAPH 135 


the room, and Mrs. Brady sat by his side. 

- Bradley occupied a chair not far away. 

“Quite a domestic scene!’ Ned muttered. 

While the boy watched through the window, 
the old woman arose and left the cabin by the 
front door. Then Bradley arose, went to a 
suitcase in a corner by the hearth, took there- 
from a small green paper parcel, and went to 
the cupboard, hanging on the north wall. 

After feeling about for a time he took out a 
cup, filled it with warm water from a kettle on 
the fire and stirred the contents of the green 
package into it with a brush which hetookfroma | 
pocket. Ned could not see the contents of the 
cup, but when the man held the brush up to the 
light he saw that it was soaked in what seemed 
to be a black dye. It appeared too thick to 
suit the taste of the man, and he poured in more 
water out of the kettle. 

Then, with the brush wet in one hand and the 
cup in the other, Bradley drew closer to the bed 
where the child slept. Ned watched for a few 
seconds more, then the footsteps of the old lady 

were heard approaching the door, ringing on the 

hard earth at the front of it. Ned made an- 
other entry in his memorandum book and 
turned away. 


136 THE BOY SCOUT CAMERA CLUB; OR _ 


CHAPTER XIV 
POINTING OUT THE TRAIL 


After leaving the window at the rear of the 
cabin, Ned moved to the north side, where 
there was no window at all, and stood there, 
huddled against the wall, until he heard the old 
lady enter the house and close the door. Peer- 
ing around the corner to see that no one was in 
sight, he crossed the open space swiftly and ap-— 
proached the grove where he had seen Jack. 

Jack was not in sight, but a round hole cut 
in the bark of a tree told the direction in which 
he had gone. In the Indian sign language used 
by the Boy Scouts this meant: 

“This is the trail. Keep on in this direction.”’ 

Wondering what had taken Jack away so 
suddenly, Ned followed on until he came to an 
open space where no trees were growing. He, 
however, kept straight ahead, taking snapshots 
as he came to desirable scenes. | 

A hundred yards from the edge of the grove 
he came to a small round stone sitting ontopofa 
large one. Then he walked faster and with 
more confidence. This, too, said: 

“This is the trail! Keep on!” 


It was now after noonday, and the sun poured 2 om 


~ 


CONFESSION OF A PHOTOGRAPH 137 


fiercely down into the valley between the great 


ridges. There were patches of forest here and 


there, and now and then the boy came to a field 
which had been planted tocorn. Still, he came 
upon no human being. The two cabins he saw 
seemed empty and deserted. 

Weary and hungry as he was, Ned kept on, 
now reading the trail sign from a tree, now from 
a stone, now from a bunch of grass tied at the 
top, with the ends of the blades sticking straight 
up. He walked a couple of miles without turn- 
ing to the right or left, and then found a new 
signal. ‘The hole in the bole of the tree where 
the sign stood was accompanied by a long cut 
in the bark of the left side. 

This, as plainly as a voice from the thicket 
could have done, said: 

“Turn to the left and keep on in that direction 
until you are further instructed.” 

The turn to the left led Ned up the slope. 
So the field of action was likely to be in the 
mountains again! The signs were closer to- 
gether now, and Ned followed them with faith 
that he was on the right track. 

But who had made the trail? Was it Jimmie 
or Jack? Probably the latter; Ned concluded, 
for Jimmie would not be likely to have had an 
opportunity of so blazing his trail, while Jack 


was free to do so at will. 


Pa 


/ 


fee 
fi sine 


1388 THE BOY SCOUT CAMERA CLUB; OR 


But why had Jack gone away on the trail 
alone? Why had he not called to him, Ned, in 
order that they might proceed together? “ 

It was possible that the boy might be follow- 
ing some person whom he suspected of the ab- 
duction, still that did not seem to be likely, as 
any one tracking another in the broad light of 
day, in such a country as that, over open places 
and rocky elevations, would be almost certain 
to be discovered. Ned feared the boy was be- 
ing led into a trap. 

Finally, almost at the edge of the timber, Ned 
came to a third sign. There were three holes 
cut in the bark of a tree, facing the trail he had 
followed, and on the right side was the familiar 
slit in the bark. 

‘Turn to the right and be careful, for there 
may be danger ahead!” . 

That is what the talk on the tree said! 

To the right lay a rim of trees, facing the 
bare face of the mountain. Between the trees 
and the summit lay a long stretch of rocky slope, 
in some places actually maccessible to one not 
an expert in mountain climbing. 

Obeying the signal, Ned turned to the right 
and kept under the shelter of the trees. It was 


very still there, save for the sharp raspings of — ey, 
insects hiding in the foliage and the sleepy call — a 


of birds in the sky and in the tops of the trees. _ . 


CONFESSION OF A PHOTOGRAPH 139 


The boy made his way through the under- 
brush for some distance without finding any 
sign. At a loss what course to pursue, he de- 
cided to do nothing! So hesat down in a thicket 
and waited. And while he waited he took 
snapshots! 

His thought, sitting there in suspense, was 
that Jack might have waited for him at some 
point on the trail! At best the boy could have | 
been only a half hour ahead of him. He waited 
an hour, until the sun began to touch the tops 
of the distant western mountains, and then 
climbed cautiously up a tree and looked about. 

Then there came a rustling in the bushes 
farther to the south, and the low, angry growl 
of a black bear came up to him! Ned began 
sliding down the tree at once. 

That was the call of the Black Bear Patrol! 
‘He knew now that Jack was not far off. At the 
bottom of the tree he found the boy waiting for 
him! 

“Say, but I’ve had a long wait!” Jack com- 
plained. 

“Why didn’t you signal before, then?”’ de- 
manded Ned. 

“Why, I thought you’d come pene on, come 
on and meet me!”’ 

“And you never knew I was here until I 
climbed the tree? ”’ 


4 


vis 


ye 


140 THE BOY SCOUT CAMERA CLUB; OR 


‘“‘Of course not. How should I?” 

‘““Well,’’ Ned observed, ‘we’ll know better 
next time. JI presume I should have made a 
sign myself—the call of the pack, for instance.’’ 

“Of course,’’ Jack replied. ‘“‘Now,” he went 
on, ‘“‘do you know what’s doing here?”’ 

‘“‘T’m in quest of information,’’ Ned Bigs 
“What have you found?” 

“T’ve discovered that the Brady cabin is 
being watched!”’ | 

Ned couldn’t understand that, and said so. 
Jack went on: “‘When I stood in front of the 
house, two men came out of the canyon and 
walked down to the tree belt and stopped. They 
stood there a long time, talking, and then 
started off in this direction and I followed them.” 

“Are they mountaineers?” asked Ned. 
“People of this section?” — 

“Certainly not! They ane to all appearances 
city people, at least in dress.’ 

“You couldn’t hear what they were saying?”’ 
asked Ned. | 

“No, but I could get some idea of their 
thoughts from their gestures. One was kicking 
about Somer hing, and the other was trying to 
pacify him.’ 

‘Well, where did they go? Where did you 
see them last?”’ asked Ned. 

“They went up the mere: and disappanced } 


CONFESSION OF A PHOTOGRAPH [4I 


behind that chimney of rock. I’ve got pictures 
of that rock!”’ 

“This looks like a three-cornered gone 
Ned mused. 

“What do you mean by that?” asked Jack. 
“Where are the three interests?”’ 

“We'll probably have to come back here to- 
night,’’ Ned went on, without answering the 
question. “We can never get up that slope in 
daylight without attracting their attention.” 
“We must be at least four up-hill miles from 

camp,’ Jack calculated. 

“All of that,’ answered Ned. “It is a long 
walk there and back.”’ 

“Then why not remain here?” asked Jack. 
“T’m hungry, but I’m more in need of rest 
than food just now. We can lie here in the 
thicket until night, and then creep up the slope 
and see what’s doing.”’ 

“T was about to suggest that,’’ Ned observed, 
“but I thought you’d be ravenous for the sight 
of a camp dinner!”’ 

“T have a hunch,” Jack declared, after a 
time, “that Jimmie is somewhere in this section! 
I don’t know why, but when I saw those men, 
strangers, evidently, walking so stealthily over 
the country I got the hunch! Then I followed 
them, because I thought I might get a clue to 
the boy’s whereabouts by so doing.”’ 


/ 


142 THE BOY SCOUT CAMERA CLUB; OR — 


“Tf the boy is here,’ Ned replied, gnmly, 

‘“‘we’ll find him!”’ 

“Of course we’ll find him! That’s what we 
are here for!”’ ! 

The boys thus encouraging each other crawled 
deeper into the thicket and lay down. They 
were more than tired, worse than hungry, but 
they never thought of sleep, or of leaving their 
post of observation. The afternoon passed 
slowly, the boys taking snapshots now and then. 


“The boys will be thinking we’ve been — 


geezled!”’ Jack said. ‘I wish they knew where 
to find us. There’s no knowing what they will 


do, they’re so anxious about Jimmie. And if 


bey scatter over the country others a be 
captured.” 

‘They usually show good sense In emergen- 
cies,’? Ned commented. 

When the first tint of twilight came, the boys 
crept to the edge of the thicket and sat looking 
- out on the mountain. There was the broken 
way to the summit, and there was the chimney 
rock behind which the men had disappeared, 
but no human being was, for a long time in 
sight. 

Then a small figure came swinging down the 
_ slope, off to the north, and presently came oppo- 


site to where the boys lay. Jack Beles Ned by 


the arm and pointed. 


f f 


\ 


CONFESSION OF A PHOTOGRAPH 143 
“Ts it the prince, or is it Mike III?” he asked. 
Ned got out his field glass and studied the 

face and figure until, whistling some childish 

discord, the boy turned back and disappeared 
in the direction of the cabin. 

“What is that boy doing off here alone?”’ 
asked Jack, then. 

“Keep watch of the chimney rock,’’ Ned 
advised. 

“But what do you think of it?’ demanded 
Jack. ‘‘How did that boy get up here?” 

“If you see any one moving up there,”’ Ned 
went on, provokingly, “let me know.” 

“Oh, look here!’ Jack insisted, half angrily, 
“what’s the use of shutting up like a clam? 
What is your idea about that boy? We’ve never 
seen him before except in Bradley’s company. 
Do you think he ran away? Why can’t we go 
and get him and‘ hold him until Jimmie is re- 
leased? ’’ 

“So you think the men who have taken Jimmie 
are the men who are conducting the abduction 
game?”’ asked Ned. 

“Yes, don’t you?” 

“T have written the answer to that down in my 
little book,” smiled Ned, “and when the right 
time comes Ill show it to you.” 

“Well, if we are going to catch the boy we’ll 
have to be moving.”’ | 


‘ ve 
144 THE BOY SCOUT CAMERA CLUB; OR 


“We are not going to catch the boy.” 

Jack threw himself down on the ground in 
disgust. 

“You’re the Secret Service man,’ he said, 

“‘and I presume you know what you are about, 
but it loc. to me as if you had been reading a 
dream book, or something like that.” 

“Why should we catch the child?” asked Ned. 

“To hold him! To be able to say to the out- 
laws that we hold the top hand!” | 

‘‘And trade the child for Jimmie, as you sug- 
gested? ”’ 

“Why, of course!”’ 

“That would make a failure of our mission, me 
son!”’ 

“But it would save Jimmie’s life.”’ 

It was now growing quite dark in the valley, 
especially where the tree growth was heavy, 
but upon the slope objects might still be clearly 
distinguished some distance away. While the 
boys watched the child came out of the thicket 
to the north and began ascending the mountain, ~ 
walking with a light, springing step, as if out for 
exercise after a long and tiresome confinement. 

“‘Now keep your eye on the mountain,’’ Ned 
requested. 

In a moment a column of smoke arose from 


behind the chimney rock. The boys watched 
it intently and the child with it, for he wasnow 


approaching the rock. 


t 


CONFESSION OF A PHOTOGRAPH 145 


“‘Cooking supper!’’ remarked Jack. ‘‘I wish 
they would pass it around!” 

“Does it take two fires to cook supper up 
there?” asked Ned, with a smile. 

Jack half arose in his excitement, but Ned 
drew him down again. 

“Jimmie’s up there!’’ he whispered. ‘“here’s 
the Boy Scout call for help!” 


( 


| 


THE BOY SCOUT CAMERA CLUB; OR 


CHAPTER XV 
A NIGHT ON THE SUMMIT 


“Now,” Ned said, as the signal columns 
died down, “‘ we’ll hike back to camp with our, 
pictures and get supper! How does that strike 
you?”’ 

Jack turned toward Ned impatiently. There 
was not light enough for his face to show clearly, 
but Ned knew how the boy was scowling! 

“And go off and leave Jimmie here?” Jack 
said. ‘“TI’d like to know what you’re thinking 
of! Why have you changed your mind? I’m 
going to stay here until it gets good and dark 
and then go up there.’’ 

“You may spoil all my plans if you attempt 
to reach him to-night,’’ Ned replied, in a matter- 
_ of-fact tone. “On the way back I want to stop 
at the cabin a moment.”’ 

‘fAll right,’? Jack grumbled. “I suppose 
I’ll have to go with you! When are you think- 
ing of rescuing Jimmie? After they send us one 
of his hands?”’ : 

““Ton’t be sarcastic,’’ laughed Ned. “ You'll 
understand it all before long.” 

Jack was not at all pleased with the idea of 


returning to camp, and said so repeatedly as — 


CONFESSION OF A PHOTOGRAPH 147 


they walked along both keeping in the thicket as 
far as possible, but Ned seemed to take no 
offense at his remarks. | 

“What I can’t get through my head,” Jack 
epeuy. said, changing the topic of conversation, 

“ig why Bey let us travel through here without 
nipping us.’ 

“T have an idea,”’ ped answered; “that they 
are pretty busy just now.’ 

“Well, what was the use of our going at all 
if we sneak away as soon as we get where we 
might accomplish something?’’ demanded the 
boy, reverting to the old subject. 

“You did a good job in finding and following 
them,’’? Ned replied, ignoring the question, 
“and another good job in showing me the way. 
We have accomplished more than you think! 
I’m anxious for the end to come, so you'll 
know just how much you have accomplished! 
_ There is the cabin light,’’ he added. 

The boys walked boldly up to the door and 
‘Ned knocked. Mrs. Brady looked out with a 
welcoming smile on her faded face. She in- 
vited them in and tried to appear pleased at 
their visit, but Ned saw that she was under a 
great mental strain. 

Judd Bradley sat by the hearth, with the 
child by his side. He smiled when Ned nodded 
to him and pointed to a chair. 


ali, 


148 THE BOY SCOUT CAMERA CLUB; OR 


“Pardon my not arising,’”’ he said. “The 
fact is that I’m a bit leg-weary to-night. This 
little chap ran away to-day, and ! ee a long 
chase after him!” | 

“We were worried about him,” Mrs. Brady 
added. 

“Aw, what’s the matter wid youse folks, 
anyway?’’ demanded the boy, in a strident 
tone. ‘I didn’t promise to sit in a chair an’ 
play wid a cat all day!” 

‘““T’ve had quite a busy day inveelty ” Ned 
observed, “for one of the boys~ has been ab- 
ducted by the COUN ae as I suppose, and 
we’ve been looking for him.’ 

‘Have you found him?” asked the old lady, 
anxiously. 

“No,” was the reply. ‘He must be securely 
hidden. ”’ 

“The poor little fellow!” 

Ned glanced casually at Bradley and saw 
that he was all interest. 

“Tt seems,’’ he went on, “that the counter- 
feiters blame us for what took place last night, 
and want us to leave the district. If we do 
they will send the boy out to ue unharmed, at 
least that is what they promise.’ 

“T don’t see how they can blame you for the __ 
trouble of last night,’? Bradley said, and Ned ‘a i 
caught a tone of irony in his voice. me 


ke 


we 


CONFESSION OF A PHOTOGRAPH 149 


“That’s what I can’t see,’? Ned went on, 
“but it seems that they do.” 

“And so they have ordered you out-of the 
hills?”’ asked Bradley. “That’s too bad, just 
as we were getting well acquainted. But, 
then, you don’t have to go!”’ 

“T think we'll go,” Ned replied. ‘There 
are other localities where we can take pictures, 
and we can’t afford to take any chances on the 
boy being injured.” 

“Sorry to have you go,”’ Bradley remarked. — 
“but that may be the wisest course.” 

“We think so,’ Ned replied. ‘Anyway, 
we're going day after to-morrow, in time to 
meet Jimmie at Cumberland. I think we can 
get packed up and out by that time.’’ 

“Shall we see you again before you go?” 
asked the old lady, anxiously. 

“Oh, I presume so. IJ am going now to leave 
a note in the cave, saying that we are going 
out, and then on to camp.”’ 

When the boys stepped outside the cabin the 
old lady followed as far as the threshold stand- 
ing with her gray head outside. 

“T’m sorry,’ she said. ‘‘If there is anything 
I can do—” 

Jack stood a couple of yards away, whistling 
shrilly. At a word from Ned the old lady 


_ stepped out into the open air, half closing the 


150 THE BOY SCOUT CAMERA CLUB; OR 


door after her. From the inside came the heavy 
tread of Bradley approaching the door. 

But before the visitor gained the threshold 
Ned and Mrs. Bradley had exchanged half a 
_ dozen short sentences, and when Bradley looked 
out she was saying. : 

‘“‘T shall look for you if you ever come this 
way again.’’ 

“Tl surely be back, some bright day! 
laughed Ned, and the two boys walked on. 

‘‘Well,”’ Jack said, as they left the cabin 
behind, ‘‘of all the fire-proof, enthusiastic, gilt- 
edged, slicky-slick members of the Ananias 
club I ever heard mentioned, you certainly take 
the bakery! What did you go and tell Bradley 
we were going out for?”’ 

“Because,” Ned answered, “‘we are going 
out.”’ 

‘‘Not by day after to-morrow?”’ 

“IT hope so! We ought to get ready by that 
time!” 

‘“‘T don’t ask any more questions!’ grumbled 
Jack. ‘‘I don’t know hot from cold! I’m deaf 
and dumb and blind from this minute on. Uncle 
Ike has a classical education in comparison 
with what I know. Go toit, Neddie, boy!” 

They stopped at the cave and Ned wrote a 
note to the effect that they were going out inside 


17?’ 


the limit set, placed it in a conspicuous place _ 


CONFESSION OF A PHOTOGRAPH | I5I 


on the shelf with the dies, and then the two boys . 
set out for camp. It was a long, hard climb, 
but they made it before the boys were in 1 their 
bunks. 

_ “You’re a nice party!”’ Frank exclaimed, as 
Ned came up. ‘‘We thought you had been 
pinched! There’s plenty of hot supper in the 
oven for you, but you don’t deserve a thing! 
Square yourself!” 

‘Don’t ask him a single question!”’ grumbled 
Jack. ‘“‘He won’t tell you a thing! We’ve 
been within sight of a signal from Jimmie this 
afternoon, and we’ve had a chance to tell the 
outlaws where they can go, but he’s muffed 
every play! I’m going to eat and go to bed!”’ 

Jack really was out of temper, so no objections 
were made to his going to his bunk as soon as 
he had finished supper! Ned laughed good- 
naturedly at the boy’s remarks and thought no 
more about them. 

Frank came and sat down by Ned while the 
latter was eating a hearty supper. 

‘“‘The worry doesn’t seem’ to affect your 
appetite!’’ the boy laughed. ‘‘Have you solved 
the riddle, that you are so calm through it 
all? If you have, just tell me this: 

‘*TIs it the prince, or is it Mike ITI.?” 

“T’ve written the answer to that in my ‘little 
red book,” laughed Ned. 


152 THE BOY SCOUT CAMERA CLUB; OR 


Frank eyed the other with a grin, but made 
no reply for a time, then he merely said: 

‘‘You are up to your old tricks! Well, what 
is on for to-night?”’ 

“Why,’’ Ned answered, ‘‘if you would like a 
stroil by moonlight, I think we might get a 
good view of the south country from the top 
of the mountain.”’ 

“T don’t know what you’re up to,” Frank 
answered, springing to his feet, ‘‘but ’m game 
for anything. I’ve been eating my heart out 
all day.”’ \ 

‘“‘What about the prints?”’ asked Ned. 

‘“They are remarkably good,” Frank re- 
plied, “but there are no special features. In 
one picture, taken down in the canyon, there is 
2 face that we did not see, though.” 

‘What sort of a face?” 

‘‘A strange one to me. But J’ll show them 
all to you in the morning. When are you going 
out for that stroll in the moonlight?”’ 

~“TIn two hours. That will be about midnight. 
Between now and that time I’m going to get a 
little sleep. Wake me at twelve, will you—and, 
by the way, say nothing to the others about it. 
They'll all want to go! We can notify whoever 
is on watch when we get ready to start.” | 

Ned hastened to his bunk and lay down. 
Five minutes later, when Frank looked in, he 


CONFESSION OF A PHOTOGRAPH 153 


was studying a French dictionary by the light 
of his eléctric candle. Ten minutes later he 
was sound asleep. At twelve the boys were 
ready to start, and Teddy, who was on watch, 
was warned to keep wide awake and listen for 
noises from the south. 

“If you hear shooting,’’ Ned said, ‘‘two of 
you jump on Uncle Ike and charge along the 
summit to the south. Make all the noise you 
can! Don’t go down the slope, but keep to the 
summit.” 

‘““Now where?” asked Frank, as they walked 
over the rocks and wound around jutting crags. 
“Tf you'll give me time I’ll take some moonlight 
pictures for Dad’s newspapers. He must be 
expecting some by this time!”’ 

“Poor old Dad!” laughed Ned. ‘‘By this 
time he must have given up sitting around the 
New York postoffice, waiting for your pictures 
to come!” 

“T’m going to send him some on this trip, 
sure!’”’ declared the boy. ‘‘He deserves them, 
you know, and his newspaper needs them! Be- 
sides, we are planning another Boy Scout trip, 
and I shall want a whole lot of money!”’ 

““T see!” cried Ned. ‘‘You are casting an 
anchor to windward!”’ 

“Tn other words,” grinned Frank, ‘‘I’m laying 
the foundation for another aparapreiont I’m 


154 THE BOY SCOUT CAMERA CLUB; OR 


going to send on some of the pictures of the 
counterfeiters’ den!”’ 

The summit of the ridge was by no means a 
level pathway. There were peaks, canyons, gul- 
leys and twistings to east and west which caused 
the boys to travel two miles or more for every 
mile they advanced toward the point where the 
two men Jack had followed had taken refuge. 

It was about two o’clock in the morning when 
they came in sight of the chimney rock which 
Ned had noted on the trip of the afternoon. It 
rose from the west slope of the mountain like 2 
tower, tall, bulky, forbidding. 

Looking down upon it from the east, Ned saw 
that there was a small canyon in between it 
and the slope, much the same as the formation 
near the cave of the counterfeiters. It was 
evident that the rock had been cast down from 
the summit, and had caught there—on a pro- 
jecting ridge of stone. 

“Looks like a fortress!”” Frank witkpe ee as 
the rock sparkled in the light of the moon. 
“Notice the campfire in the canyon?” 

‘‘There were two there this afternoon,’’ Ned 
said, ‘‘and we thought one of them was there 
simply to make the second column—the Boy 
Scout call for assistance. ”’ 

“Tf Jimmie isn’t tied up hand and foot,” 


Frank suggested, ‘if he is allowed to move 


/ 


CONFESSION OF A PHOTOGRAPH 155 


about, under guard, and help in the cooking, 
he could easily build two fires, and the outlaws 
wouldn’t know what he was up to. That is 
how Dode came to signal to us, you remember. 
The counterfeiters never suspected that he was 
making Indian talk!”’ 

“TY think it was Jimmie,”’ Ned declared. 
‘‘He would find some way to make the signal, 
if he wasn’t tied hard and fast! Anyway,” 
the boy added, ‘‘I’m going down the slope right 
now to see if he is there!”’ 


‘Ww 


156 THE BOY SCOUT CAMERA CLUB; OR 


CHAPTER XVI 


THE CALL OF THE PACK 


Ned and Frank stood in the shadow behind a — 


protecting rock and peered down into the moon- 
lit canyon for a long time. At first there was 
no one in sight below, but presently a man came 
out by the fire, which was burning low now. 

It appeared to the boys that he must have 
crawled out from under the chimney rock it- 
self! He appeared so suddenly that they knew 
that, at least, there must be an underground 
hiding place in which he had been concealed 


when they had first come in view of the canyon — 


and the rock. 

The man mended the fire, gathering up the 
ends of the logs and limbs which had burned 
through in the middle and placing them back 
on the coals. Then he opened a box which he 
had brought from some out-of-sight place and 
took out canned food and cooking utensils. 
He was evidently going to get an early break- 
fast. | | 

Presently a second man joined the first ar- 
rival, and they sat down by the fire to wait for 


water m a great pot to boil. Atleast, the boys - 


supposed that they were waiting for it to boil. 


ane, 


CONFESSION OF A PHOTOGRAPH 157 


‘‘T’dlike to know what they are talking about, ”’ 
Frank said. ‘I’m going to see if I can get 
close enough to them to find out.” 

“T was just thinking of that myself,’’ Ned 
responded, ‘‘so we may as well be on our way. 
Keep your gun handy, but don’t shoot unless. 
one of them seizes you.” 

“Tl take good care they don’t get hold of 
me,”’ Frank answered. ‘‘Say,’? he went on, 
‘if Jimmie is there, he must be in some hole 
under that rock—the one they came out of! 
If they turn away, I may be able to get in there 
and see.” 

“Wait until there is little danger of detection, ”’ 
Ned advised. ‘‘We don’t know how many 
men there are in the party, remember.’’ 

The boys walked softly back to the north, 
keeping ridges and outcropping rocks between 
the canyon and themselves, and then crept 
softly down the slope so as to come out at the 
north end of the little cut. The men they were 
watching were frying bacon and boiling coffee 
now, and appeared to be thoroughly occupied 
with their tasks. 

In a few moments both boys were within 
hearing, distance. The men were not talking 
much, however. In fact, they both seemed to 
be harboring a grouch, from the infrequent 
low, grumbling complaints which the boys over- 
heard. 


om al \ 


[58 THE BOY SCOUT CAMERA CLUB; OR 


“T’m through with the bunch after this!” 
one of the men said. ‘‘I’m not going to do all 
the work and let some one else draw all the 
money.” 

“It is time we got out of here anyway,” the 
other said. Pe: fresh boys were around here 
ps afternoon.’ 

‘Why didn’t you plug them if you knew they 
were here?’’ demanded the other. 

Frank nudged Ned in the side with his fist. 

‘Cheerful sort of people!”’ he said. “I’m 
looking to see something start soon.” 

‘‘T didn’t know at the time that they were 
here!”’ the man replied, with asnarl. ‘I’m no 
Indian sleuth. After they left I started through 
the grove and found their tracks. Good thing 
for them that I saw their tracks instead of their 
heads!” 

‘‘Well,”’ the other grunted, ‘‘if we are agreed 
that it is time for us to get out, why don’t we 
get out? I’m not going to take all the chances! 
Why don’t the others come? They won’t 
come, and that’s all there is to it. They’re 
waiting for us. to do the job! Then they'll 


claim the pay.’ 
By this time ae bacon was crisp and the coffee 


was simmering fragrantly in the pot and the 


two men fell to with an appetite. Frank watched 


them eat with an appetite of his own, rubbinghis 


i 
( . a 
CONFESSION OF A PHOTOGRAPH 159 


stomach and trying to show how near the point 
of starvation he was, although it had been only 
@ short time since he had eaten a hearty meal! 

“They don’t trust us!” one of the men mut- 
tered, at length. 

“We haven’t got a thing on them, if they see 
fit to welch on us,”’ the other admitted. 

‘But if we obey orders, they will have so 
much on us that we won’t dare say a word, even 
if they make us walk back and buy our own 
meals on the way!” 

“Ts it agreed, then, that we’re going to cut 
1t?”’ asked one. “If it is, we may as well go 
now as at any future time.”’ 

“ All right.” 

“Now?” asked the other. 

“Why not? It will soon be daylight.” 

“Good idea, for we can’t be seen trailing that 
kid along with us in the broad light of day,” 
was suggested. ‘‘Let’s move right now!”’ 

“Now,” whispered Frank, ‘do they mean 
Jimmie, when they speak of the kid, or some 
one else? And if they are speaking of some one 
else, here’s a question: 

“Ts it the prince, or is it Mike ITI.?”’ 

“It seems to me,” Ned whispered back, 
“that I’ve heard something like that before.”’ 

“Well, get the kid out and feed him!” one 
of the men commanded. ‘‘We’ve got to keep 


é i 


160 THE BOY SCOUT CAMERA CLUB; OR 


him with us until we get pay for what we have 
already done.”’ 

‘“‘Now we'll know!” Frank suggested, as one 
of the men turned toward the rock. “If it 
is Jimmie we'll soon know it. What?” 

They were not long kept in doubt. Jimmie 
shot out of a hole under the rock like an arrow 


in full flight and squatted down by the fire. — 


Frank snickered when he saw the boy, and 
turned hastily away toward a ledge which 
showed back to the north. 

While Ned was wondering what the boy was 
up to, the long, vicious whine of a wolf reached 
his ears. The call died away slowly, and was 
followed by silence, then by the snarling call 
of the pack! 

The men by the fire started to their feet and 
seized their revolvers. Jimmie jumped away 
from the blaze and held up his hands, bound 
tightly together. 

“Cut me loose!” he cried. “Are you going 
to let the wolf come and eat me?”’ 

“There are no wolves in these mountains,” 


declared one of the men. ‘““That was a signal . 


1”? 


of some kind 
“T’ve seen wolves since we came in here,” 
Jimmie declared, telling the exact truth, at 


that, only the wolves he referred to belonged — 


CONFESSION OF A PHOTOGRAPH a 


to the Wolf Patrol, Boy Scouts of America! 
“They’re fierce wolves, too!’’ he added. 

Frank crawled back to Ned’s side and lay 
laughing at the commotion the signal had 
caused in the little camp. The men hastened 
their packing, and one of them who had been 
about to give Jimmie his breakfast snatched the 
bread and bacon away and put them in a pack 
he was making up. 

“Here!”’ the boy shouted. ‘‘You give me the 
eats! Think I’m going to travel over these 
mountains with me tummy abusing me for not 
doing the right thing by it?” 

““You’re lucky to have any tummy!” snarled 
one of. the men. 

‘‘Aw, give the kid his breakfast!’’ commanded 
the other. 

The men quarreled and growled at each other 
while the packing was going on, and Jimmie sat 
looking around for some sign of the Boy Scout 
who had given the signal. In half an hour they 
were ready, and then Jimmie was ordered to 
move on. 

“Tf you try to run away,”’ he was informed, 
“you'll be chased by a bullet. We have no 
time to fool with you! Just keep a pace or two 
in advance, and march straight ahead and you’ll 
have no trouble. Get along, now!” 

“ut where’s the prince?” asked Frank. ‘I 


162 THE BOY SCOUT CAMERA CLUB; OR 


thought we were going to find the royal prince 
here!”’ | 

“The prince of what?” asked Ned. “The 
prince of the slums or the prince of a little 
patch of ground over the sea?” 

‘Blessed if I know,” Frank commented. 
“See me throw a scare into those bums!” 

The men stopped still in their tracks when the 
ugly snarl of a bear came to them out of the 
darkness. Frank did himself proud in the 
manner in which he put out the bear talk. The 
men were surely frightened. 

“Now there’s a bear!’ wailed Jimmie, al- 
though Ned thought he caught a note of fun 
in his voice. “Don’t you know these hills are 
full of bears? We saw some at our camp last 
night,’’ he added, “eating bread and honey!’ 

‘‘Bear nothing!’’ shouted one of the men. 
“There ain’t a bear within a hundred miles of 
this place! This is some trick!” 

Again the fierce, angry snarl of the bear! 
Ned caught Frank by the arm to keep him quiet, 
but the boy finished the bear talk he had begun. 

Then Jimmie hastened matters by breaking 
away and running toward the rock from which 
the sound had proceeded. Both men took 
after him, but a shot from Frank’s gun caused 
them to halt. They stood still for an instant, 
their figures tense and tall, and then turned and 


CONFESSION OF A PHOTOGRAPH 163 


ran, almost tumbling over each other in their 
fright! 

They did not stop at slight declivities. They 
leaped gulleys and almost fell into canyons which 
split the summits. In vain Ned called to them 
to halt, that they would not be injured. They 
ran like race horses, and were soon out of sight. 
Frank and Jimmie were rolling on the ground 
in their delight. 

Ned looked grave and annoyed. Without 
speaking he looked over'the camp where the 
men had cooked the breakfast and then returned 
to the boys. 

“I am sorry for that,”’ he said, mildly. “I 
wanted to put those men through the third 
degree! We should have held them up and put 
on the handcuffs. ’”’ 

“You didn’t say so!’’ observed Frank sheep- 
ishly. 

“No use to talk about it now,’’ Ned declared. 
“Perhaps Jimmie knows what we expected to 
learn from them.” | 

“All I know is that the bums got me at the 
cave and tied me up,”’ Jimmie said. 

“How many men have you seen in the party?” 
asked Ned. 

“Just those two. They were always talking 
about some one else coming in, but I never saw 
any one else.”’ 


164 THE BOY SCOUT CAMERA CLUB; OR 


“What did they talk about?” asked Ned. 

“They were trying, most of the time, to make 
me admit that the Camera Club was a secret 
service organization,’’ laughed the lad. ‘Of 
course I denied it!”’ 

“What did they say about a child?” 

“Not one word! I kept my ears open for that 
kind of talk!” | 

“Did they have a boy with them at any one 
time?” asked Ned. 

“This afternoon, or yesterday afternoon, 
rather, I saw a kid moving about on the slope. 
I was cooking, and built two fires so as to make 
a signal. Did you see it?”’ 

“Yes, we saw it,’”? answered Ned, ‘but did 
not reply to it for the reason that we feared 
discovery. We wanted to come here in the 
night and release you and capture the two out- 
laws! But what sort of a child was it that you 
saw?” : 

“Why, it was the kid from the cabin. Say, 
Ned,” he added, with a wink at Frank, “is that 
the prince, or is it Mike III.?” 

“Cut it out!” roared Frank. ‘ We’ve heard 
enough of that.” 

Ned laid a hand on the shoulder of each boy. 

“That shot attracted attention,’’ he whis- 
pered, ‘‘or the runaways are coming back. I 


CONFESSION OF A PHOTOGRAPH [65 


hear some one tramping over rock, and a moment 
ago I caught the gleam of a gun barrél.”’ 

“Then it’s me for a hole to crawl into!” whis- 
pered Jimmie. ‘‘I’ve had troubles of my own 
for the past few hours! Say, but I’m hungry, 
boys. ”’ 

The boys left their place of retreat just as a 
couple of bullets spattered on rock. 


166 THE BOY SCOUT CAMERA CLUB; OR 


CHAPTER XVII 
JUST A LITTLE DARK WASH 


More shots were fired, but the boys were 
soon out of range. A flush of pink was showing 
in the sky now, and the sun would be up in 
half an hour. Jimmie looked longingly toward 
the camp, and Ned turned his footsteps that 
way. | 
“ Speaking of quitters,’’ Jimmie said, as they 
moved along, “the two men who geezled me take 
the bun! They quarreled all the time because 
some one else didn’t come and do something 
they wanted done! No wonder they ducked 
when one shot was fired!”’ 

“ About the boy you saw yesterday afternoon, ”’ 
Ned asked. “Are you sure it was the lad who 
was brought to our camp?” 

_“ Of course it was!” 

“Dressed just the same?”’ 

“‘ Just exactly.”’ 

“Why didn’t you take a picture of him?” 
asked Frank. 

“Huh, don’t you ever think I didn’t,” was 
the reply. “I’ve got it in my’ camera now. 
_ When we get to camp I'll develop it and print 


some. I’ve got pictures of the men, too, and ~ 


t 
‘ 


b 

.. 

Ae 

+4 

+ bay ie 
te 


CONFESSION OF A PHOTOGRAPH 167 


about everything epound the hole in the ground 
where they hid me.’ 

“That is as it should be!” Ned declared. 
“But how did you do it!”’ 

“They are easy!” was all the aS: Jimmie 
made. 

A quarter of a mile away from the chimney 
rock Ned paused and looked back. 

“T can’t understand where those men went 
to,”’ he said. 

“My friends do you mean?’ asked Jimmie with 
agrin. ‘“They’re going on a hop yet.” 

“No; the men who did the aitaint. ’ said 
Ned. 

“Well,’’ Jimmie went on, in a minute, ey. 
is a place somewhere near the rock where some 
friends of the men who ran are camping. I 
- heard them talking together.”’ 

“You little rascal!’’ Ned exclaimed. ‘‘Why 
didn’t you tell me that before?”’ 

“Oh, you won’t find them there now!” Jim- 
mie advised. “I’ll bet they ducked when we 
got away. They won’t remain around here 
now.’ 

“Are they counterfeiters?” asked Frank. 

“'They’re bums from the city, brought here 
in connection with the abduction of the prince!”’ 
laughed Jimmie. 

“How did you manage to cook and take 


168 THE-BOY SCOUT CAMERA CLUB; OR © 


pictures when you were tied up like a fish for 
shipment?’’ asked Frank. 

“They didn’t tie me up for a time, for I gave 
them a lot of talk about liking their society,” 
was the answer. ‘‘They just watched\ me. 
When it came night and they wanted to sleep, 
they put the harness on!”’ 

“That was careless of them,” declared Frank, 

“not to tie you up tight. ”’ ; 

“They’re just cheap bums,” Jimmie insisted. 
“They couldn’t kidnap a bird in a cage.” 

The sun was up when the boys reached the 
camp, and Teddy was getting breakfast. 

The arrival of Jimmie was hailed with man- 
ifestations of joy, as may well be supposed. 
The boys clustered around him excitedly, and 
even Uncle Ike, from the corral, sent forth a 
he-haw greeting. The breakfast Teddy prepared. 
for him was a wonder! 

The meal was scarcely finished when Bradley 
came sauntering into the camp. He stopped 
suddenly when he saw Jimmie. Watching him 
closely, Ned saw that he was dismayed as well 
as astonished. However, he soon came for- 
ward with a set smile on his face and took the 
boy by the hand. 

. “You’re lucky,’ he said, “to get out of the 
clutches of the counterfeiters so soon. I was 


CONFESSION OF A PHOTOGRAPH _ 169 


afraid something serious might have happened 
to you. How did you do it?”’ 

“Ned came after me,’”’ was the only reply the 
boy made. : 

‘‘We’ve decided to go away,’’ Ned explained, 
“and so they gave him up, after a short argu- 
ment. ’’ 

“With a gun!’’ whispered Jimmie to the others. 

Bradley loitered about the camp for a long 
time, asking questions and talking of a great 
many things which did not interest the lads 
at all. 

“And so you are going out to-morrow?” he 
asked, arising to go. 

“We expect to,’’ Ned replied soberly. 

“Perhaps I’ll meet you outside somewhere,’’ 
Bradley laughed. 

“T hope so!”’ Ned replied, whispering an 
aside to Frank. 

Frank walked away toward the tent, and 
directly, while Bradley’s face was in clear out- 
line, Ned heard the click of a shutter and knew 
that the snapshot had been made. 

When Bradley at last started away Ned called 
the boys together and asked them if it wouldn’t 
be a good idea for them to take a prisoner—just 
to equalize things!”’ 

“Bradley?” asked Frank and Jimmie in 
chorus. 


’ 
170 THE BOY SCOUT CAMERA CLUB; OR 


‘That’s the man,”’ laughed Ned. “Do you 
think you could head him off and hide him in 
some out-of-the way hole in the ground?” 

““What for?” demanded Jack. “TI don’t see 
what you want to do that for.” 

“Just for the fun of it!’’ Jimmie exclaimed. 
“T’ll guard him after he is taken!” he added, 
with an appealing look at Ned. 

“Well,’? Ned went on, nodding at Jimmie, 
“T have an idea that if two of you work down 
the slope and come out ahead of him you can 
coax him to throw up his hands easily enough.” 

“Then, after that, if you leave it to me,” 
yack continued, “you’ll go down to the cabin 
and get the prince and start away with him!” 

“You’re sure it is the prince?” asked Ned. 

“Of course! I should think any one with 
sense could see that. Just see how suspiciously 
the kid is watched! Of course, if you want to 
take the abductor along too, why that will be 
all right, but I’d get the prince first!” 

‘“That’s good advice,’”’ Ned declared, seeking 
to conciliate the boy, “and Tl go down to the 
cabin now and look after that end of the game!”’ 

“Tf things work this way,’ laughed Oliver, “I 
suess we wils get away to-morrow!”’ 

“Why don’t you let me go with the boys and 
help capture that stiff?’”? asked Jack, speaking 
to Ned. “He may be armed and perfectly 
_, willing to shoot.” a 


CONFESSION OF A PHOTOGRAPH 171 


“We have messed things up a bit here,” 
Ned answered, “so whatever we do must be 
done at once. I have another little errand to 
do while they capture Bradley!” 

“Oh, we'll get him, all right!’’ Frank insisted. 

“You bet we will!’ Jimmie added. ‘“T’ll 
tie him up tight, too! He won’t take no pictures 
while he is my prisoner.”’ 

“Perhaps he won’t have a baby camera hidden 
under his coat! laughed Frank. 

“What are you going to say to him, boys, 
when you take him?”’ asked Teddy. 

“We ain’t going to say anything,” Jimmie 
answered. ‘‘We’re just going to get him!” 

“Be careful, boys,”’ was all Ned said as Frank 
and Jimmie left on their dangerous mission. 
“Be careful!”’ 

After they had disappeared up the slepe Ned 
turned to Jack. 

“You saw one act of the play yesterday,’’ he 
said to him. ‘‘Suppose you come with me now 
and see another act.”’ 

Jack came forward with outstretched hand 
and downcast face. | 

“Say, Ned,” he said, “I’m sore at myself!” 

““What’s that for?’’ Ned asked, shaking the 
hand heartily and lifting the boy’s face by tak- 
ing him by the chin. “Why are you sore at 
yourself?’ 


172 THE BOY SCOUT CAMERA CLUB; OR 


‘Because I acted like a dunce when we left 
chimney rock without signaling to Jimmie,” 
was the reply, ‘‘and because I grumbled like 
a bear with a sore head when you suggested that 
Bradley be captured. ’’ 

“You had a perfect right to express your 
opinion, my boy,”’ Ned said. 

“Yes, but I might have known that you knew 
what you were about. To be honest, I could 
hardly believe my eyes when I saw you bringing 
Jimmie back.” 

“The least demonstration on our part at that 
time,’’ Ned said, then, ‘might have caused the 
men who were guarding Jimmie to shift their 
quarters. Besides, I wanted Bradley in the 
toils before I made the final break.” 

“But he wasn’t when you released ee 
Jack suggested. 

“He will be before the inal card is laid downy, 
Ned replied. ‘‘But come,” he went on, “we 
must be moving if we get to the cottage before 
the trouble begins. ”’ 

“T’m all in the dark,” Jack Said “but I’m 
willing to take your judgment now.’ 

Ned and Jack hastened away, be daw 
the slope to the west and south so as to get to 
the cottage in the quickest possible time. When 
they came in sight of the structure they saw 
Mary Brady sitting in the doorway, her head 


CONFESSION OF A PHOTOGRAPH _- 173 


bent forward, her face buried in the palms of 
her hands. 

She arose at the sound of their footsteps and 
advanced with outstretched hands to meet them. 
There were tears on her face and her manner 
was excited. 

“You came too late!” she cried, wringing 
Ned’s hand. ‘They have taken him away.” 

“When?” asked Ned, leading the old lady 
into the cabin. | 

“Oh, I don’t know when! Sometime in the 
night. I awoke and saw that the bed was empty 
and called to Bradley. He arose and has been 
looking for him ever since.’ 

‘“‘He was just up at our camp—looking!”’ 
Ned said, with a wink at Jack. 

The old lady now went to a cupboard and 
brought forth a glass in which a dark fluid 
rested. A small black brush stood against the 
side of the vessel. 

“I found this for you, as you asked,”’ she said. 

Ned examined the contents of the glass and 
made a mark on a white paper with the brush. 
The color transmitted to the paper was a light 
brown, not black. 

‘You washed the boy, as I asked you to??’ 
Ned then enquired. | 

“T tried to,’ was the reply, “but Bradley 
suid he would take him out and give him a swim 


\ 


174 THE BOY SCOUT CAMERA CLUB; OR 


in the run down in the valley. He wouldn’t 
let me touch him.” 

“Well, what did the pillow case. show this 
morning?”’ 

The old lady pointed to the white paper. 

“Tt was stained like that,’’ she said. _ 

During this talk Jack had been standing look- 
ing from Ned to the old lady with all shades of 
expression on his face. Now he spoke. 

“Say, Ned,’’ he almost gasped, ‘‘ what is the 
meaning of all this?”’ 

“Wait a minute!’’ Ned said, facing the old 
lady again. ‘‘And you listened to their talk 

\when they sat together last night?” 

“Indeed I did, sir, and its the first time I ever 
played the spy? 

“What was Bradley saying to him?” asked 
Ned, then. 

“He was saying French words over and over ~ 
for him to repeat!”’ 

Jack dropped into a chair and looked ses! 
lessly at his chum. 

“Foolish little French phrases, like one finds 
at the back of any dictionary?” asked Ned. 
‘He was repeating them so that the boy could 
say them after him?” 

“Yes, sir, that is just it.” 

“Now, Jack, what about your prince of the 
royal blood?”’ asked Ned. 


CONFESSION OF A PHOTOGRAPH 175 


“T gather from what I hear that he was 
painted,’’ said Jack, with a shamed look in his 
eyes. “Painted!” ; 

“‘Sure he was!” cried the woman. “Painted 
and taught foolish little French words to say! 
But he is Mike’s boy! I know that!”’ 

‘“This is like the Arabian Nights!” Jack cried. 

“‘Worse!’’ Ned declared, ‘for all my plans 
have gone wrong with the disappearance of the 
boy.” : 


176 THE BOY SCOUT CAMERA CLUB; OR 


CHAPTER XVIII 
BRADLEY BECOMES INDIGNANT 


Frank and Jimmie hastened down the slope 
to the west, after toiling up and crossing the 
broken summit, and soon caught sight of the 
man they had been instructed to take prisoner. 
Bradley was walking swiftly, his haste not at 
all matching the leisurely air he had affected at 
- the camp. 

“How do you feel now?” asked Jimmie, 
wrinkling his nose at Frank. ‘“‘How does it 
seem to be a bold, bad gunman?” 

“T think itis a little shivery,’”’ Frank answered. 
‘‘When I get back to New York,” he went on, 
“T’m going to write a story for Dad’s news- — 
paper entitled: ‘Desperate Desmonds I have 
Shot Up in the Hills.’ That title ought to make 
a hit on the East Side, south of First street!” | 

“T feel like a second-story man, and a gopher- 
worker, and a train-robber, and a confidence 
operative all rolled into one!”’ Jimmie admitted. 
“This holding people up is new exercise for us! 
Say, will you agree to let me push the gun into 
his face?’’ | 

“We'll both have guns, you little highway- 


— 


CONFESSION OF A PHOTOGRAPH 177 


man!” Frank replied. ‘‘You needn’t think I’m 
going to look on and miss all the fun!” 

“Then you let me tie him up!” coaxed Jim- 
mie. ‘I won’t tie him very tight, just so he 
can’t breathe, and so his blood won’t circulate!”’ 

“You’re the fierce little bandit!’ declared 
Frank. 

“Well, the gang he belongs to tied me up!” 
complained the boy. ‘I’m going to get even 
on this geek! We can walk right down on him 
at any time now. He'll never suspect that we’re 
pirates. ”’ 

“First,’’ Frank observed, “I’d like to know 
where he is going so fast.” 

“He may go so fast that he’ll get to friends 
before we harness him!”’ warned Jimmie. ‘Then 
we couldn’t get him at all, but might, instead, 
get geezled ourselves.’’ 

“There seems to be a little sense left in that 
head of yours,” Frank laughed, “even if your 
friends do think it is solid bone! So we’d better 
skip along and take him under our protection 
before we Have an army to fight. Say, but won’t 
he take a tumble to himself when he finds him- 
self stuck up by two boys?”’ 

Not withstanding their half-humorous talkcon- 
cerning what they were about to-do, the boys 
both realized that they were fae a serious 
situation. ‘They had every confidence in Ned’s 


178 THE BOY SCOUT CAMERA CLUB; OR 


judgment, still they had no knowledge of 
Bradley which seemed to them to warrant the 
bold step they were about to take. 

Jimmie was under the impression that Bradley 
belonged to the coterie which had taken him 
prisoner, but he had no proof of it. Bradley had 
been, apparently, accepted by Mrs. Mary Brady, 
and that seemed a good recommend for him. 
Still, there were the instructions, and they 
were resolved to carry them out. Neither ex- 
pressed to the other his secret thought on the 
subject. 

““Where are we going to hide him, after we 
take him?”’ asked Jimmie, after a time, during ~ 
which the lads had managed by hard work to — 
decrease the distance between themselves and 
Bradley. ‘‘How about the old counterfeiters’ 
den?”’ 

“That’s the first place his friends will look 
for him! No, sir, we’ve got to-find a little re- 
treat of our own, and one of us must guard him. 
Do you know how long Ned wants to keep 
him?”’ asked Frank. | 

“Don’t know a thing about it,” was the reply. 
“T don’t even know why he wants him captured, 
or what proof he has against him.” 

The boys were now not far away from Bradley, 
and, hearing the rattle of broken rock behind 
him, he turned and looked back at the boys, who 


CONFESSION OF A PHOTOGRAPH 179 


were swinging along with their hands in their 
pockets. He waited for them to come up. 

“Taking a little walk, eh?’”’ he questioned, as 
the boys came to the level space on the moun- 
tainside where he had paused. 

Bradley seemed to be entirely unconscious of 
danger, for he turned his back to the boys pres- 
ently, after a few short sentences had passed 
between them, and moved forward, as if to con- 
tinue his way down the slope. 

“Just a minute!”’ Frank said, sharply, and he 
faced them. 

_ Two automatic revolvers were within a foot 

of his head, and the eyes of the boys back of 
them declared that the situation was not the 
— result of a joke. 

“Hold out your hands!” Jimmie ordered. 
“We want to see if you’re toting any smoke- 
wagons! Push ’em out, Mister!” 

Bradley did not hesitate a second. His hands 
went out like a flash. There was a smile on 
his lips as Jimmie removed his revolver, but his 
jaw was threatening. 

“‘And so you are just common thieves?” he 
said. 

“Aw, quit it!” Jimmie answered. ‘We’re 
taking care of you so you won’t fall over a 
precipice and hurt yourself.” 

“You'll find very little money on me,” Brad- 


180 THE BOY SCOUT CAMERA CLUB; OR 


ley went on. ‘I’ve sent in to the city for a 
couple of hundred. You ought to have waited 
a few days.”’ 

‘We don’t want your money,” Frank cut in, 
“all we want is the benefit of your society for a 
time.”’ 

Bradley flushed angrily when Jimmie adroit- 
ly snapped.a pair of handcuffs on his outstretched 
wrists, but he made no protest. 

“Now you can put down your hands,’’ Jim- 
mie announced. ‘They'll get stiff if you hold 
’em out too long. Now, sit down and pick out 
your hotel. You may have a room in most any 
section of this district. Immaterial to us where 
we put you!” | 

“What does it mean?” demanded Bradley. 
“T presume you boys know what you are doing. 
There’s law in this state, as wild as this country 
looks to be. You'll get years behind prison 
bars for this.” 

“Before I forget it,” Jimmie asked, with a 
wink at Frank, “I want you to tell me something. 
Will you?” ‘ 

“That depends. What is it you want to 
know?” 

“This: Is the boy down at the cabin the 
prince, or is he Mike III?” 

The eyes of both boys were fixed keenly on 
Bradley’s face as the question was put. So far 


CONFESSION OF A PHOTOGRAPH 13! 


as they could see, it did not change a particle 
in color or expression. | 

‘“That’s a queer question for you to ask,” he 
said. ‘‘You’d better asked Mrs. Brady whether 
it is her grandson ornot! And I don’t know what 
you mean, talking about a prince. I haven’t 
seen any prince about here—except the prince 
of the son of thieves!” 

‘“‘So you won’t tell, eh?” asked Frank. 

“The boy I brought in is Michael Brady, son 
of the son of Mrs. Brady.’’ 

Sitting on the level space half way down to the 
outcropping ledge which held the workroom of 
the counterfeiters, Bradley looked anxiously in 
the direction of the canyon. 

Jimmie noted the look and took out his field 
glass. People were moving about in the canyon, 
and down in the valley to the south, where the 
cabin stood, something out of the ordinary 
seemed to be going on. 

“You are expecting friends?”’ asked Frank. 

“They are liable to come any minute,” was 
the cool reply. 

“Then we’d better be going,” Jimmie cut in. 
“There are men in the canyon, and in the 
valley, and they may be coming up here to find 
out why you don’t meet them, as per agreement! 
Are they good waiters? If they are, you may 


182 THE BOY SCOUT CAMERA CLUB; OR © 


find them still in the valley after you’ve served 
a couple of terms in a Federal prison!”’ 

“Be careful what you say,” warned Bradley. 
‘“‘T’m in your power now, but there’ll come a 
time when I won’t be. Remember that!” 

Jimmie’s glass showed him that the men 
below were starting up the slope. 

“We'll go back toward camp,” he said to 
Frank. ‘I guess the fellows down there are 
watching us through glasses. If you don’t 
mind,”’ he added, turning to Bradley with a pro- 
voking laugh, ‘‘we’ll stow you away in a hole 
in the rocks somewhere until they get tired of 
looking for you!”’ 

“Go as far as you like!”’ was the reply. 

Frank and Jimmie stepped aside and con- 
versed together in low tones, trying to make up 
their minds what to do with the prisoner. It 
had taken little trouble to capture him, but it 
seemed to them that it would be no easy matter 
to hold him. 

“There’s a cute little dip in the summit not far 
from the camp,”’ Frank said, at length. “A 
boulder tumbled out of the slope, and there’s a 
cave big enough to hide three in, only there is 
a part of it which has no roof.”’ 

“Don’t mind that!’’ Bradley said, in a sar- 
castic tone. ‘‘We won’t have a long residence 
in any place you select now.” | 

tf 


\ 


CONFESSION OF A PHOTOGRAPH 183 


“The summit is spotted with queer little 
openings where soft rock has been washed out,” 
Frank said, ‘and we ad locate not far from the 
camp if we want to.’ 

_“T suppose you boys are doing this under the 
orders of this Nestor boy?” asked Bradley. 
“When you get to him, kindly ask him to call 
on me. I want to know what all this means.”’ 

“Let’s see, what was it you said about the 
child you brought in with you?”’ asked Jimmie, 
wrinkling his freckled nose until it did not seem 
possible to ever get it out straight again, ‘‘ what 
was it you said ite name was? Was it Prince 
Abductable or Mike the Third?”’ 

Bradley scowled but said nothing. The boys 
now set off up the slope with their prisoner. 
Now and then they turned to look into the can- 
yon and the valley below. 

The men they had observed in the canyon 
were slowly ascending. There were four of 
them, and it seemed to the boys that they were 
examining every foot of the ground they cov- 
ered. Bradley looked downward, too, and a 
smile came to his face as he did so. It was 
plain that he expected help from that quarter. 

The boys walked as swiftly as possible, and 
soon came to the summit, where a view of the 
camp was had. The corral where the mules 
were feeding was also in sight, farther down, and 


184 THE BOY SCOUT CAMERA CLUB; OR 
(oS RE SO HT 


Teddy was seen making friends with Unele Ike. 

The camp looked so quiet and deserted that — 
Jimmie took out his field glass again and looked 
closely. The flap of the tent was up, and the 
boy could see for some distance into the interior. 

Trunks and boxes were open, their contents 
scattered about the floor. A figure lay still on 
the floor, as if asleep. Jimmie could not see 
the face, but from the size and expression of the 
shoulders he imagined it to be Dode. 

Oliver was not to be seen. Then, while the 
boy watched, with a premonition of approaching 
evil in his mind, he saw two men move out into ~ 
the center of the tent. They were looking’ 
through handfuls of papers, or pictures, or some- 
thing similar. Jimmie could not determine at 
that distance just what they were carrying. 

“Look here, Frank,” the boy said, “just 
take a look at the tent.”’ 

Not a word to arouse the interest of the 
prisoner was said. Frank looked and handed 
the glass back to his chum. Jimmie knew what 
his chum feared as well as if he had put that 
fear into words. Bradley was smiling calmly. 

‘They have raided the tent!’”’ Jimmie whis- 
pered, and Frank nodded. 

“And they are destroying our plates and 
prints,’’ Jimmie went on, “‘and so we’d better 
be getting down there to see about it.” 


CONFESSION OF A PHOTOGRAPH 185 


CHAPTER XIX 


P 
NED PLAYS THE MIND-READER | 


Jack stood in the little cabin in the valley 
and looked Ned expectantly in the face. 

— “Tell me,”’ he finally said, “tell me why they 
painted this boy?” 

‘*To get us off the trail of the prince,” replied 
Ned. | 

“But it seems that they failed,” suggested 
Jack. “You know?” 

“T suspected from the very first,” Ned 
answered. ‘‘ Yesterday afternoon I knew.” 

“Well, it may be all right,” Jack muttered, 
“or the man who brought him here may need 
a new wire on his trolley, but I can’t see why 
they should bring this counterfeit prince here 
at all.”’ 

“They knew that we were coming here,’’ Ned 
explained, resolved to give his chum a full under- 
standing of the situation. “They knew we 
were coming here in quest of the prince. How 
they knew I can’t make out, but they knew.” 

“They might have heard more than we sup- 
_ posed from the attic over the clubroom,” Jack — 
suggested. 

“Tf the story of the maid and the coachman 


I86 THE BOY SCOUT CAMERA CLUB; OR 


is straight,’’ Ned continued, “they heard little © 
that night. But they knew! They might have 
bribed some of the servants. I don’t know. 
| They might have been in that room Parone that 
evening. 

“At any rate, when the Boy Scout Camera 
Club started for West Virginia by way of Wash- 
ington the friends of the abductors knew what 
was going on. Now, it is my opinion that the 
prince had been headed for the mountains before 
the conspirators became aware of our connection 
with the case.” 

“T begin to see daylight!” Jack cried. 

“Well, the prince being on his way to the hills 
and we having a good idea as to the locality of 
his place of hiding, the conspirators conceived 
the idea of giving us a false little prince to play 
with!” 

“They ’re no foot Jack exclaimed. ‘No 
fools at all!” 

‘““Now,’’ Ned went on, ‘‘some of the conspira- 
tors knew Mrs. Brady’s son in Washington. 
They knew of his many promises to his mother 
to return to the mountains. They knew of his 
recent promise to her to come home and bring 
the boy with him. They were doubtless very 
intimate with Mike Brady, Senior, for they 
knew all the little details of the life his mother 
was living. H 


CONFESSION OF A PHOTOGRAPH __ 187 


“So they got him to permit them to bring 
the boy to his grandmother. They knew he 
would be looking for a prince in the hills, and so 
they gave us a false one to engage our attention! 
Rather clever, that, Jack.” 

_ ‘The old lady was now regarding Ned with eyes 
which expressed awe as well as wonder. 

“How did you find it all out?” she asked. 
“How do you know what took place in the minds 
of those wicked men?”’ 

“After they took possession of the boy they 
began bribing him to play the part he has 
~played here so imperfectly. They taught him 
cheap little French phrases from the dictionary, 
and touched up his already dusky complexion 
so as to make him look darker than ever. Yes- 

_terday I saw Bradley at work on his face with 
a brush!” 

“‘And the lad played his part!” the grand- 
mother declared. ‘‘I don’t know how Bradley 
led him along, but the boy was willing to do as 
he was told. I never saw such a wild little chap 
so thoroughly subdued before. He wouldn’t 
even tell me the truth when I took him in my 
old arms last night and talked to him.” 

“But he evidently told Bradley what you said 
to him,” Ned continued, “for he got the child 
away in the night. Then he came to camp this 
- morning to see if he could find out how much 


188 THE BOY SCOUT CAMERA CLUB; OR 
SC EAL 


I knew. He’s probably tied up by this time!” 


“You have had him arrested,’’ asked the old 


lady. ‘‘Then he’ll never tell where the boy has ~ 


been hidden, and he’ll die of starvation—die 
almost within sound of my voice.” 

“We'll find him,’? Ned answered, grimly. 
“We can make Bradley talk, I imagine.”’ 

“And while this has been going on,” Jack 
said, ‘‘the true prince, the boy we came here to 
find, has doubtless been carried to some other 
part of the country?” 

“T don’t believe it!’? Ned replied. “The 
conspirators would naturally expect us to shift 
our search for him back to Washington, or 
Chicago, or New York, wouldn’t they? As 
soon as we discovered that this boy was not the 
person we sought, they would expect us to leave 
the hills at once, wouldn’t they? Well, if they 
anticipated such a move on our part, what is 
more natural than that they should take ad- 
vantage of this alleged idea on our pate and leave 
the prince right here?”’ 

“That is just what they would do!”’ cried 
Jack. ‘That is just what they have done. 
I wondered why you told Bradley we were going 
out! I had no. idea that you knee so much 
about the case.’ 

“Bradley knew that I knew the boy to be an 
imposter,’”’ Ned went on. “He intended we 


\ 


CONFESSION OF A PHOTOGRAPH 189 


should make the discovery in time—after he had 
watched the grandson for a few days, sized 
up the situation generally, and dropped out of 
sight. He intended me to know in a couple of 
weeks, after he was out of harm’s way. But 
I discovered the trick too quickly for him.” 

“When did you first suspect?” asked Jack. 

“That first morning. The boy’s French was 
from the back of the book, and there was too 
strong an atmosphere of Washington about 
him—an atmosphere which does not savor of 
the quiet life of the prince of the blood. Then 
when I watched him closer I saw that he had 
been painted. Oh, it was all plain enough.” 

“So you think the prince is here—in these 
hills?”’ asked the old lady. 

“T ean’t say, now,” Ned replied. “I am 
sure that he was here yesterday. I think I 
saw him! But the escape of the two men who 
captured Jimmie mussed things up a lot. I 
wanted to put them through a little examination. 

“ After their escape I could not pose longer 
as a lad after snapshots! I can’t say as I de- 
ceived the conspirators when I laid the capture 
of Jimmie to the counterfeiters. I think I did 
fool them when I said we were going out of the 
hills in order to protect the captive. 

“Well, when we released Jimmie and let the 
~ two guards escape, that part of the game was 


) 


x 


190 THE BOY SCOUT CAMERA CLUB; OR 


off. If I could have held the men it would have 
been different.” | 

“Perhaps Bradley can be made to tell where 
the prince is,’”’ suggested Jack. 

“TI hardly thinks he knows,” Ned replied. 
“He has not, I think, been taken fully into the 
confidence of the men higher up, any more 
than have the men who guarded Jimmie. ”’ 

‘“‘He certainly knows where my grandson is,”’ 
exclaimed the old lady, ‘‘and I’ll tear his heart _ 
out but I’ll make him tell me. He took him — 
away!” 

“T am not so certain of that, either,’”’ Ned 
mused. “I don’t know just how far the criminal 
head of the conspiracy has trusted him.” | 

“You’ll do all you can to find my boy, won’t 
you?” pleaded the old lady. 

“Don’t worry about the boy,” Ned urged. 
“We'll find him. If Frank and Jimmie have 
had good luck Bradley is under arrest now, and 
something will be brought out to lead to his 
discovery. Besides, with the disguise pene- 
trated, there is no longer any motive for hold- 
ing him, unless he knows too much, which is not 
likely. ”’ : 

“Tf his father was here he might help,” sug- 
gested the old lady. 

Jack, who had been looking steadily out of 


/ 


CONFESSION OF A PHOTOGRAPH ‘191 


the window for some little time, now turned to 
: Ned with a smile on his face. 

“T know now what you wrote in your little 
red book!” he said. 

“Are you certain of that?”’ 

“Why, of course. You wrote the answer to 
the question: ‘Is it the prince, or is it Mike III?’ 
Didn’t you, now?”’ 

“Yes, I did!’ was the reply. “I was almost 
positive before, but I knew that day.” 

“And now we are just where we began,” 
Jack said. ‘‘We’ve solved one phrase of the 
vase, but we haven’t found the prince.”’ 

“That will come later, Ned declared, confi- 

dently. ‘Well,’ he went on, “we have fin- 
ished our work here for the present. We have 
learned of the disappearance of the grandson 
and we have confirmed my previous belief, that 
the boy was sent in here to draw our attention 
from the abducted child. So we may as well 
go back to camp and see what the boys have 
been doing.” 

The old lady still clung to Ned piteously, 
begging him to restore her boy, and Ned prom- 
ised to do all in his power to place the lad in her 
arms. 

“If my son would only come!” the woman 
kept saying. 

“Tf you’ll give me his address,’’ Ned promised, 


192 THE BOY SCOUT CAMERA CLUB; OR 


“T’ll see him when I get back to Washington, 
if he is not already here or on his way here.” 

The address was given and the boys started 
on the return trip to camp. 

“Now, Jack,’’ Ned said, when thee were on 
their way up the slope, ‘‘do you know where the 
nearest telegraph station is?”’ » 

“There’s one over on the south fork of the 
Potomac,”’ Jack replied. 

“You are good friends with Unele Ike?” Ned 
then asked, with a laugh. 

“Sure Iam. Uncle Ike is a friend of every 
person who carries sugar in his pocket.” 

“Well, when we get back to camp I’ll give 
you a night message. You must take the mule 
and get it to the station. You may not be able 
to get there to-night. If you can’t, send it 
when you do get there. Wait for an answer. 
When you get it tell Uncle Ike it is important 
and get here with it as soon as possible. You’ve 
got a hard trip ahead of you, boy!”’ he added. 
“T’m game!”’ laughed Jack. “If there’s any 
of this prince trouble leaked out,” he ee 
“what shall I say?” 

“Tell the old story. Say that we are in the 
hills for art’s sake, and that we have been an- 
noyed by counterfeiters! | Nothing serious, 
understand? Not a word about our real mis- 
sion here. You notice that even the men we 


CONFESSION OF A PHOTOGRAPH 193 


are battling with want it understood that it is 
the counterfeiters who are trying to drive us 
out.” 

There must be something mighty strange 
about this abduction game,” Jack grinned. 
“No one will even admit that there is a prince 
in the case.” 

When the boys came to the vicinity of the 
summit, south of a point in line with the camp 
and the canyon where the counterfeiters had 
been discovered, they stopped and took a good 
survey of the landscape. 

“We can probably learn more about what has 
been going on,”’ Jack suggested, “by hiking 
straight for the camp. I’m anxious to be off 
on that trip. Uncle Ike will like it—not! But 
Ill make him like it! I’Il give you a good imi- 
tation of a boy sailing over the mountains on 
the freight deck of a mule!”’ 

“T was wondering,’’ Ned said, composedly, 
though his eyes were troubled, “whether we 
had any camp left! If you’ll look off to the 
north, you’ll see four men crouching in a dent 
in the slope. Rough-looking chaps, eh?”’ 

“Tsee!”’ Jack whispered. ‘‘ Have they seen us? 
That’s the question now.”’ 

“Tf they saw us,’’ Ned continued, “they 
would either be making for us or trying to get 
out of sight. No; they are watching the camp. 


194 THE BOY SCOUT CAMERA CLUB; OR 


See! They are where they can look over the 
summit.” 
“Tf they haven’t been to the camp I’ll think 
ourselves lucky,’’ Ned said. 
“They probably haven’t!” Jack cried. “But 
look there, they are going on a rush right now! 
Must be Bradley’s friends. What?” 


CONFESSION OF A PHOTOGRAPH 195 


CHAPTER XX 


SHOOTING ON THE MOUNTAINSIDE 


\ 


Bradley smiled cynically as he looked down 
toward the tent. He could not, of course, 
distinguish the figures as plainly as Jimmie could 
with the glass, but he knew from the excited 
manner of the boys that something unusual was 
taking place. 

“You have visitors at the camp?” he asked 
cooly, as the lads motioned to him to move on. 
“| shall be glad to meet them, you may be sure. ”’ 

He held out his manacled hands suggestively 
as he spoke. 

“You’re not invited!’’? Jimmie grunted. 
“We've got private date with those people. 
You might muss things up, if we permitted you 
to go with us!” 

“Very well,’ Bradley replied. ‘They’ll know 
where 1am. But, for fear they’ll not recognize 
me, at this distance, I’ll just give them notice 

that I’m here.”’ 7 

Jimmie and Frank both sprang forward to 
»Drevent the promised outcry, but Bradley 
proved too quick for them. ‘The cry that rose 
from his lips was long, shrill and significant in 
itsinsistance. It was finally stopped by Bradley 


196 THE BOY SCOUT CAMERA CLUB; OR > 


being thrown to the ground, where he lay with 
the old sarcastic smile on his face. 

“You’ve done it now!” Frank gritted. “You 
ought to be shot.” 

“You are none too good to commit a murder— 
to kill an unarmed and defenseless man.” 

“Tf you don’t keep that twirler of yours 
reefed I’ll tie it up!’’ Jimmie declared, with a 
threatening motion. : 

He might have gagged Bradley there and ae 5 
only that Frank called his attention to the camp. 


The two men who had been seen inside were now 


hiding on the west side of the tent, and Teddy © 
was coming up the slope from the corral. Oliver 
was nowhere to be seen, and the supposition 
was that he had been captured by the outlaws. - 

“We’ve got to tie this robber hand and foot 
and gag him!” Frank cried. ‘‘ We’ve got to get 
down to the camp right away!” 

‘“‘Perhaps,’’ Bradley observed, with a pro- 
voking laugh, “you’ll also tie and gag the men 
who are coming up the hill from the canyon.” 

The four men were now nearly half way up — 
the slope from the cut, and having heard the cry, 
were making good’ time in the ascent. ‘The 
situation looked anything but peaceful! 

The boys were anxious and excited, and Brad- 
ley counted on this when he made the next move. 

The men on the west slope had of course heard 


i 


x 


CONFESSION OF A PHOTOGRAPH 197 


his call, he reasoned, and were hastening up to 
his rescue. 

Believing this, he Pe a desperate chance 
when he sprang away from the boys, dropped 
to the ground and went bumping over the 
broken slope, handcuffed as he was. Jimmie 
had his automatic out in a moment, but by that 
time Bradley was concealed by one of the boul- 
ders which lay on the declivity. 

It was useless to try to recapture the fellow, 
for the men coming up the slope had seen 
something of what had taken place, and were 
now on the run wherever the nature of the 
ground permitted. Besides, they were already 
within shooting distance, and the boys would 
be directly under fire if they sought to bring 
Bradley back. 

“Tt is a hopeless case!”’ Frank cried. ‘We 
can’t get him!”’ 

“The best thing we can do, then, is to get to 
the camp,”’ Jimmie observed. 

“Then duck low and cut away to the north!”’ 
Frank cried. ‘‘ Perhaps we can make most of 
the distance under cover. Say,’ he added, as 
they moved along, northward on the slope 
toward the east, “did you ever see anything 
like that? That Bradley is some wise guy 
when it comes to a pinch!” 

“He’s daring!’’ Frank commented. “He will 
make us trouble yet!” | 


di 


i988 THE BOY SCOUT CAMERA CLUB; OR 


“T believe,’’? Jimmie went on, “that he’s the 
fellow that got into the attic over the clubroom 
of the Black Bear Patrol. When he was down 
on the ground, sitting looking over the country, 
I saw a scar on his head, a sharp cicatrice, three- 
cornered. You know how he got that?” 

“The maid threw a large pair of shears at 
some one that night,” Frank said. “You 
remember we found blood and a blonde hair on 
one of the blades. ”’ 

“ Just the sort of hair that gink carries on his 
- dome!”’ Jimmie added. 

The men coming up the west slope had not 
yet reached the summit, and the men below 
were still hiding behind the tent. ‘Teddy was 
approaching the fire. 

“They ’ll get the kid in a minute!” Jimmie 
said. 

“TI don’t know about that,” Frank replied. 
“He seems to me to be. getting suspicious. 
Notice how he stops and looks around—probably 
looking for Oliver or Dode.”’ 

It was clear that the men waiting behind the 
tent were becoming impatient, for they moved 
along and made ready to spring upon the boy. 
Teddy, however, was not advancing. 

Something about the tent had warned him 
that it was in the hands of the enemy. With — 
a shout of warning to Oliver and Dode, if they 


CONFESSION OF A PHOTOGRAPH 199 


chanced to be free and within hearing, he turned 
and dashed toward the corral. 

While the two men were getting under way in 
pursuit, Frank and Jimmie came out on an easier 
slope and moved rapidly downward. Teddy 
was soon out of sight, and then the men turned 
back. 

At that moment a shot came from the summit, 
and the boys turned to see the four men whom 
they had observed on the slope heading down 
for the camp. 

“They ’ve found Bradley, of course!”’ Frank 
said. 

“Yes,’’ answered Jimmie, “there’s no use 
of playing double now, for they know that we 
are next to their game.”’ 

“Shall we rush for the camp?” asked Frank. 

“Nothing doing,” Jimmie answered. ‘We 
can’t do a thing there, and we are under cover 
here! Bradley has, of course, told them that we 
are here, but they won’t be able to find us for a 
long time. If they get too gay with the things 
at the camp we’ll send a few bullets down. 
Looks like things were coming their way now, 
eh?”’ he added. 

“We can’t hold the top hand all the time,” 
Frank grunted. ‘‘Ned will come along directly 
and even things up a little. I wish he was here 
now!”’ 


, a4 
200 THE BOY SCOUT CAMERA CLUB; OR 


The four men were now scrambling along the 
slope, looking for the two boys as they walked, 
slid and jumped down. ‘The two men who were 
at the camp had turned back from the pursuit 
of Teddy at the sound of the shot, and were now 
awaiting the approach of their friends. _ 

“‘T suppose they’ll burn the tent and drive 
the mules off!’ wailed Jimmie. “I’d like to 
have a machine gun up here a little while!” 

“T reckon they won’t!”’ 

This from Frank as a shot came from the 
slope to the south. ‘The men who were rushing 
from the camp paused and looked at each other. 

While they waited, uncertain as to what they 
ought to do, another shot came, this time from 
the corral. Teddy was evidently getting into 
action! 

“Just for luck!’’ Jimmie shouted. _ 

He fired two shots as he spoke, and two more 
came from the south and one from the corral. 
The four men beckoned to their companions at 
the tent—if such they were—and made a break 
for the summit which they had just left. 

““Whoo—pee!”’ shouted Jimmie. ‘Look at 
the racers!” 

At sound of the voice one of the men turned 
and fired a shot at the rock against which the 
boy lay. It broke off a splinter et did no 
harm to the boys. 


| 
CONFESSION OF A PHOTOGRAPH 201 


Frank left cover and ran up the slope. 

“Come one!”’ he cried. “ We’ll get Bradley 
yet!” 

Jimmie was not long in catching up with him. 
When they gained the summit the four men 
were losing no time in their journey to the 
canyon. They were on their feet only a part of 
the time. 

The boys saw Bradley rise from a sheltering 
rock and start after them, but he fell in a mo- 
ment. Handcuffed as he was, he could not 
keep pace with them. ‘The fugitives paid no 
attention to his calls for assistance. It was 
every man for himself at that moment. Bradley 
sat hopelessly down to await the arrival of the 
boys. 

Just as they gained the spot where he sat 
Ned and Jack came out of the jungle of broken 
rocks to the south and looked smilingly down at 
the prisoner. 

“Good day!” laughed Jack. 

Bradley forced a smile and turned away. 

“You took that trick!’’ he said. 

Jimmie stepped forward and put his fingers 
into the blonde hair of the captive. 

“Where did you get this scar?” he asked, and 
Ned at once bent forward. 

“TI fell down and stepped on it!’’ Bradley 
answered, still smiling. . 


ca 


202 THE BOY SCOUT CAMERA CLUB; OR 


“T’ll tell you how you got it,” Jimmie went 
on. ‘You sneaked into a room in New York 
where you had no business to be and a girl 
threw a pair of shears at you!” 

“That’s a fine story!” snarled Bradley. “I 
never was in New York. x 

“Bring him along, boys,’’ Ned said. ‘We'll 
go on down to camp and see what’s been done 
to our tent and things by this man’s friends.” 

When they once more came to the summit, 
Teddy was standing outside the tent with 
Oliver and Dode and the two outlaws were no- 
where to be seen. After that Bradley com- 
plained at the rate of speed the boys insisted on. 

‘“‘Your friends must have thought they had 
butted into an ambuscade!”’ Jimmie said to the 
captive. “Have they had much training in 
running? They bobbed along like professionals, 
it seemed to me.” 

‘*You’ll see how fast they can run!”’ Bradley 
erowled. ‘‘They’ll go fast enough to send you 
all over the road.”’ 

“Now about this grandson,” asked Ned, 
falling back. “Mrs. Brady wants to know where 
he is. No use for you to hide him, now that we 
all know he was disguised to look like the prince 
stolen from Washington. Why did you paint 
him if not to imitate this other boy we speak 
of?”’ 


CONFESSION OF A PHOTOGRAPH 203 


“T don’t know anything about the boy,” 
was the reply. ‘He was taken without my 
knowledge, and that is on the level. I was 
ordered to do the paint act.” 

They trudged on for some minutes in silence, 
and then Bradley asked: 

“What is it about this prince you are always 
talking about? What is there about the prince? 
Where is he? Why is he supposed to be in this 
section?” 

“You don’t know a thing about him, do you?”’ 
asked Ned, laughing, “‘and yet you painted a 
boy to represent him?” 

Bradley only scowled. 

“When I find him,” Ned continued, “I’ll 
present him to you!”’ 

When the boys reached the tent they found 
Oliver and Teddy mourning over the destruction 
of a large number of films and plates. Many 
pictures, developed and printed with great care, 
had also been torn or burned. 

“Well,”’ Jimmie declared, ‘they didn’t get 
their hands on the films in my baby camera. 
I’ve got a few good ones left.” 

“Now, Jack,’’ Ned said, ‘‘suppose you con- 
nect with Uncle Ike and make for the nearest 
telegraph office? Don’t break your neck, and 
the neck of the mule, but get there as soon as 
you can. es get back as soon as you receive 
an answer.’ 


“Why Aah Ig go mith ‘him? 
+ “JT guess I want a mule ride.” 
© Go it, if you want to!’””? Ned laughed. on 
-will leave us one mule to run away on i 1 
{?? 


get too hot for us here! Oh a 


CONFESSION OF A PHOTOGRAPH 205 
- 


CHAPTER XXI 
TOLD BY THE PICTURES 


“You ll think we took great care of the camp!’’ 
Teddy said, flushing, to Ned, as Jack and 
Jimmie, followed by the cheers and good wishes 
of their chums, started away. 

— “ Aw, it- wasn’t Teddy’s fault at all,’ Oliver 
declared. ‘‘He went down to tell Uncle Ike 
what a gentleman and a scholar he was, and I 
was supposed to watch the tent.” 

“And I was to help him,” wailed Dode. 
“See how well I did it!” 

He swung a hand around at the mess on the 
ground. 

“So, while Teddy was down at the corral, 
Dode and I sat down to develop some snap- 
shots. We never looked out at all! After we 
had a lot of pictures ready to show on your 
return, we heard a noise outside and thought 
Teddy had come back.” 

“ And theré'is when we got it!” Dode cut in. 

“Yes, there, is where we got it in the neck,” 
Oliver went on, while Teddy grinned. “The 
gun I looked into seemed about as large as the 
tunnel under the Hudson, and I became the good 
_ little boy without further argument.” 


8 


206 THE BOY SCOUT CAMERA CLUB; OR 
sini saints iii ST Ti 


“T thought the gun I saw was a room in a 
eavern!’’ grinned Dode. 

“So they performed with their ropes and 
gags, and we lay there like two little kittens 
while they tore up our work and smashed things 
generally. And the way they wrecked the 
trunks and boxes was a caution.” 

“What did they talk to each other about 
while they were searching?”’ asked Ned. 

‘‘Nothing much. They seemed to be too busy 
looking for papers. From what I could make | 
out, I reckon they thougt you had some official 
document with you.’ 

“T have,”’ laughed Ned, “‘but they did not 
find 30: ”” 

“After they had made all the trouble they 
could,” Oliver went on, ‘‘they spoke of burning 
the tent, and I guess they would haved one it, 
too, if other things hadn’t attracted their at- 
tention just at that time!” he added, with a 
wink at Ned. 

“Well,’’ Ned observed, “I’m sorry we lost 
the pictures, but there may be some of the 
valuable ones left. We’ll look them over right 
now.” 

“Jimmie left the films from his baby camera,” 
Teddy remarked. ‘‘We can see what he got 
while he was in the hands of those cheap skates!”’ 

Nearly all the snapshots taken by Ned-and 


* 


% 


CONFESSION OF A PHOTOGRAPH 207 


Jack on the afternoon they had come to the 
hiding place of Jimmie’s captors had been printed 
by the boys, and most of them had been de- 
stroyed, plates and all. Stationing Oliver and 
Dode out on the slope to watch for any approach 
which might be made, Ned gave his attention 
to the pictures. 

“The worst of it is,’’ Frank declared, ‘that 
the good ones were the ones the boys printed, 
and the ones which were burned up.” 

“T don’t know about that,’’ Ned said. “The 
camera sees things the human eye does not 
see! What we want now is a knowledge of the 
country near the spot where Jimmie was held. 
We took plenty of pictures around there, and 
Jimmie took some, too, so we may be able to 
find what we want.” 

“T’ll work over the baby camera pictures 
while you handle the others,’’ suggested Frank, 
and the two boys were soon busy at their tasks. 
Finally Ned handed a torn print to Frank, 
pointing out a single feature as he did so. 

“You see the tree in the foreground?” he 
asked. 

“Yes, of course.’ 

“Now follow nie back to the bash at the 
left and in the rear.’ 

“T see the bush,”’ Frank said. 

“What else do you see there?”’ 


208 THE BOY SCOUT CAMERA CLUB; OR 


Frank bent closer over the print. 
“Ts that a face there?”’ he asked. 
“Tt certainly is a face.”’ 


| 
‘But it looks too small for a human face. 


It may be caused be some odd arrangment of 
the leaves. Besides, it is very indistinct.” 

“Sure, because it is in the shade. It is almcst 
a miracle that we see it at all. I’ll get a better 
print of 1t soon and enlarge it. Then we shall 
know more about it. Now, look lower down. 
What do you see there?”’ 

“Say,’’ cried Frank, “‘that’s a child’s face up 
there! Here is the leg below.! Now, what do 
you think of that?” 

“That is doubtless the boy Jack and I saw,’ 
said Ned. 

“The grandson?”’ asked Frank. 

“The prince, unless I am much mistaken,” 
Ned said, cooly. 

‘So you saw him?” asked Frank. 

“We saw a child,’ was the reply. “‘He came 
toward us for a few steps and then ran back! 
Now we’ll look over the remaining pictures and 
see what we can find.” | 

“That wasn’t. the grandson, was it?’’ asked 
Frank. 

“Mike III. was at the cabin that afternoon, ”’ 
was the reply. 


Presently Ned came to another torn print — 


‘oh? 


CONFESSION OF A PHOTOGRAPH 209 


showing the mountain slope directly in front 
of Chimney rock. He passed it over to Frank 
with an odd look in his eyes. 

“Look right in the foreground, between those 
two stones,’ he said: 

“What is it between the stones?”’ asked the 
boy. 

‘Looks to me like a coat.”’ 

“Do you really think it is?”’ 

“Sure thing!” laughed Ned. “I’m going 
over there directly and see if it is still there.” 

Frank looked puzzled. 

“But how did it come there?” he asked. 
“Why should it be left there?” 

“TI have known children to throw off coats or 
‘jackets on a hot day,’’ smiled Ned. ‘I imagine 
that princes are not different from other chil- 
dren.”’ 

Ned went on with his examination of the 
pictures. At last he came to one which was 
badly torn, almost half of it being missing. 

“There,” he said. ‘This is a picture taken 
right there at Chimney rock. Do you see the 
face above it?” | 

The face referred to was not that of either 
of the two men Jimmie had been captured by, 
or of Bradley, who sat scowling just beyond 
reach of their voices. 

“That is the man we want,” Ned said, with 


210 THE BOY SCOUT CAMERA CLUB; OR 


asigh. “If we had the other part of the picture 
we should see the boy looking over the rock, 
close at the man’s side.”’ 3 

“Very close!”’ Frank observed. ‘They seem 
to have hold of hands. Doesn’t that look like © 
a closed hand down lower?” 

“That is Just what it is!” 

Ned laid the picture aside and Fran brought 
out those which had been made from the films 
taken from the baby camera. ‘There were half 
a dozen of them and all were remarkably good. 

‘“‘Look here,’”? Frank said, ‘‘the kid took a 
picture of the slope back of the rock. Our 
pictures do not show that. Look up a short 
distance!”’ 

Not very far up the slope hung a huge boulder 
which seemed on the verge of falling. 

“Tf you’ll notice the point of contact with the 
ground,’”’ Frank went on, ‘‘you’ll see that the 
boulder is propped up by wedge-like stones put 
under it.” 

“Exactly!’? Ned said. “And that means 
that the boulder has fallen or been pried out 
of its nest, and that the cavity behind it is re- 
garded as a good hiding place.” 

“Do you think the prince could have been 
there?” 

“Not when Jack and I were in that section. 
We saw him out on the slope.” 


CONFESSION OF A PHOTOGRAPH 21 


‘“‘But he went back that way?” 

PALen. 

“Tell you what!” Frank exclaimed. “I’m 
going to take these pictures home to Dad, and 
let him print them in his newspaper.” 

“You ’ll have to write a story to go with them.”’ 

“Oh, I suppose so, but stories aren’t read 
when there are pictures. The cuts tell the 
story. Dad will like the photographs.” 

After a time Ned came to the picture of a 
man with the head torn off! In destroying the 
print the outlaws had contented themselves by 
merely ripping it into two pieces. The head 
part was not to be found. 

“What’s the dangling things in front of the 
man’s breast?”’ asked Frank. 

“‘Legs!”’ replied Ned. 

“T never knew a man to wear his legs up 
there!”’ laughed Frank. 

“But you have known men to lift kids to 
their backs and let their little legs hang down in 
front for handles? What?”’ 

“Never thought of that?’’ Frank exclaimed. 

“Tf we only had the face!’’ Ned worried. 

Then he paused a moment and went back to 
the print carrying the strange face. 

“Here it is!” he said. “See! This is the 
same man. There are the boots and the but- 
tons. ‘The camera caught the man twice.”’ 


. 
212 THE BOY SCOUT CAMERA CLUB; OR — 


“T don’t know why you didn’t see some of 
these things when the pictures were made,” 
laughed Frank. ‘Next time I go out taking 


snapshots I’m going to study the landscape, ~ 


'so I can choose subjects for my pictures!” 

“‘ All this means,’’ Ned began, ‘‘that we were 
watched when we were taking the pictures 
that afternoon. ‘These people. were looking at 
us! We might as well have been we 
through an open street. ”’ 

‘‘But why didn’t they do something to you, , 
then?’’? demanded Frank. ‘‘They captured the 
ones who entered the workroom.” 

‘Those were counterfeiters, not abductors.” 

“Well, then, they caught Jimmie and lugged 
him away?” 

one an effort to drive us out of the country, 
yes.’ 

“Then. why didn’t they capture you?” 

“Because they thought they had us scared 
so we’d go, and so didn’t want to show their 
hand. Remember that it was the counterfeiters 
who were supposed by us to have taken Jimmie.” 

“T understand. When you found that the 
-boy at the cabin was not the one you werelooking 
for you were supposed to go away so as to save 
Jimmie’s life, and leave the true prince here i in 
hiding.”’ 

“That is just it.” 


CONFESSION OF A PHOTOGRAPH 213 


Bradley now called out to the boys that he 
had something to say to them, and they hurried 
to his side. | 

“I want you to get the widow’s grandson 
and take him to her,” he said. ‘I was used 
decent, and I don’t like to have her suffer.” 

“Where is the boy?” asked Ned. 

Bradley open his eyes wider in wonder. 
“Do you really think I took him away?” 


' he asked. 


“Not a doubt of it!’’ Frank declared. 

“Well, I didn’t,’ Bradley insisted. ‘I don’t 
know where he is, but I think I can point out 
the likeliest place to hunt for him.’’ 

“Down at Chimney rock?” asked Frank. 

“In that section, yes. And, look here. You 
will need to be in a hurry, for the men who have 
him are anxious to get rid of him—and they 
-are unscrupulous!” 


214 THE BOY SCOUT CAMERA CLUB; OR 


CHAPTER XXII 
A RECRUIT FROM THE ENEMY 


“So you know the men who have taken the 
boy we call Mike III.?” asked Ned. 

‘“‘T know him too well,” was the bitter answer. 
*‘ He’s one of the men who use their friends up 
to.the limit and then drop them!”’ 

“You say ‘him,’ Ned suggested. “Is there 
only one in this outrage?”’ 

There are several, but all bow to the will of 
the leader. I can’t tell you anything more 


about it! I don’t like the way I have been ~ 


treated, or I wouldn’t have said as much as I 
have.” 

“T thought your motive was to secure the 
return of the boy to his grandmother?” 

“T want that done, of course, but 1 wouldn’t 
have suggested it to you only for the high and 
mighty airs of the man placed over me.” 

“Why don’t you tell me who this man is?” 
asked Ned. “Why don’t you tell me the ob- 
ject of this abduction of the prince? Why not — 
tell me where to find this little chap you nee 
honestly interested in?”’ 

“T don’t know anything about any pei 
-Tasisted Bradley. 


- CONFESSION OF A PHOTOGRAPH 215 


“Look here,” Ned said, “I believe I can tell 
you just how this man you hate looks. If I 
describe him, will you tell me if I am right?”’ 

“T will tell you nothing, except that you ought 
to look in the vicinity of Chimney rock for the 
erandson—not at the rock, but close to it! 
That is more than I ought to tell you.”’ | 

“This man you speak of,” Ned went on, 
recalling the features of the face caught above 
the rock by the camera, ‘‘has a very slim face, 
& prominent nose, a wide, thin-lipped mouth, 
high cheek boned, small eye-orbits, and eye- 
brows which tip up at the outer corners. He is 
fond of children, and will play with any child he 
comes across. He is also fond of mountain 
climbing, and delights in long tramps over the 
hills.” 

Bradley looked at Ned with the old cynical 
smile on his face. 

“Where did you run across him?”’ he asked 
eagerly. 

“That is enough!” laughed Ned. “You 
needn’t say another word. We have two snap- 
shots of him—one without a head. In one he 
has hold of the hand of a child, and in the other 
he has the child on his back, with the little 
fellow’s legs hanging down over his shoulders. 
A man would not be apt to ride children about 
on his shoulders unless he was fond of little ones 
generally, would he?” 


% 


216 THE BOY SCOUT CAMERA CLUB; OR 


“‘T presume not,’’ Bradley admitted. 

“And he wears in both pictures a mountain- 
climbing costume,’’? Ned went on. ‘He evi-. 
dently likes the errand he was sent here on!” 

“The man I referred to a few moments ago 
as unscrupulous does,’’ Bradley said. 

“But if he likes children he won’t be apt to 
injure this Mike ITI., will he?” 

‘“‘He is a man who will do anything for ex- 
pediency’s sake. Now go away and leave me 
to my very entertaining thoughts! . If I ever ~ 
get out of these hills alive, and free, I’ll never 
leave Manhattan island again.’’ 

“‘T remember you saying that you had never 
set foot in New York!” laughed Ned. ‘ You’ll 
have to make your stories consistent if you want 
them believed!” 

“Never mind all that now,’ Bradley ceaptien 
“You get busy restoring that child to Mrs. 
Brady! Say, boy, but he is a bright-one!”’ 

“Learned French quickly, didn’t he, and 
consented to being blacked up like a negro min- 
strel, in order to pose as a prince?”’ asked Ned. 
‘““T reckon, however, that the erdit does not all 
belong to'the lad. He seems to have had a good 
instructor. ’”’ . 

“Tf you’ll release me,” Bradley offered, after 
a pause, “I’ll go and get the boy. i: 

“That’s an easy promise to make,’’ laughed 


Ned. 


- 


CONFESSION OF A PHOTOGRAPH 217 


“But I’ go and get him and bring him to 
you, and you can return him to his grand- 
mother. Then you may put these. bracelets 


on me again if you like. But, boy, let me tell 


you this: You’vegotnothingonme! I haven’t 
done a thing in this state at least, to render my- 
self able to punishment. I supplied, for good 
pay, certain information in New York, and I 
brought the boy you call Mike III. on herefrom 
Washington, where I know his father well.” 

“You must have known what you were ‘doing 
it for?”’ 

“T did know—for money!”’ 

‘But you must have known that the boy was 
to personate some one else?”’ 

“I didn’t care about that. I had my orders! 
See here, boy, if you ever work with these high- 
brow rulers of petty kingdoms, you’ll soon find 


out that you’re to obey and not ask questions! 


Do you get me?” 

“That’s enough!” laughed Ned. . ‘You 
haven’t betrayed your SM piper: but you have 
told me all I wanted to know.” 

‘The boys unlocked the handcuffs and laid 
them aside. 

“TI believe you’ll do the right thing,” he 
said. “Go and get. the boy. If you need any 
help let me know.” 

Bradley arose and stretched out is arms 
luxuriously. 


~ 


218 THE BOY SCOUT CAMERA CLUB; OR > 


“That’s the first time I ever stood in the 
accused row,”’ he said, “‘and it will be the last! 
But, see here, boy, I can’t get the kid in a 
minute! I’ll go to the mother and tell her what 
I’m doing, if I live to get there!” 

“You think your ex-friends may seek to 
terminate your lease of life?”’ 

“They surely will—now. And, here’s a 
pointer for you, look out for yourself.” 

“JT think I can fix you out so they will receive 
you with open arms,’’ Ned grinned. “ Here. 
I’ll put these cuffs on doaine with one arm locked 
carelessly. You can draw the bar out when you 
pull right hard. Now, eat what you need and 
take a run up the slope. We'll follow you with 
a serenade of bullets. When you join the out- 
laws down in the canyon you'll be a hero.”’ 

“That’s a fine notion!” said Bradley, actually 
smiling. 

“And don’t come back here with the boy. 
Send him home to the old lady. ‘Then, if you 
want to help me in the work I’m on hs 

“T don’t, and I won’t!” 

“Don’t blame you a mite! I never did like 
a traitor! If you won’t help me, then cut 
sticks for New York. Some day when you are 
in better mood, come to the Black Bear Patrol 
clubroom. You know where it is! We'll give 
~ you a look into the place without sending ce 
up to the attic!” 


CONFESSION OF A PHOTOGRAPH 219 


Bradley’s face twisted into a laugh, but Ned 
did not seem to notice the fact. 

“T’m not saying anything more about the 
prince, understand, or the attic, or the French, 
or the black stain, but perhaps you’ll tell me the 
whole story some day!”’ 

And so, handcuffed again, Bradley was taken 
back to the tent, where he was given a hearty 
meal. Then he carefully made his way out and 
ran for the summit. Ned and his chums sat 
back and laughed at the tumbles he took in his 
eagerness to deceive any one who might be 
- watching the camp. Now and then he fell down 
behind a rock and lay there for a moment, 
peering out in the direction of the tent. 

Just before he gained the summit, Ned and 
the others ran out of the tent with shouts of 
alarm and dashed up the slope, firing as they 
went. At that time Bradley’s speed might have 
shown a world record if it had been set down! 
He cleared the summit, shouting for assistance 
from anyone who might be below, and half 
rolled down toward the canyon. Ned fired a 
few shots and went back to the tent. 

“What’s the game?” asked Frank, as Ned 
sat down and roared. ‘‘This man Bradley 
seems to be It—Tag!”’ 

Ned explained the situation and Frank im- 
mediately began taking notes for a story for his 
father’s newspaper. 


4 


“Tf I had had a motion picture machine here,” 
Frank declared, ‘‘I could have made a fortune 
out of the films! It was glorious, the.way the 
old boy tore up the rocks on his way down. 
Think he’ll return?” 

“T think he will,’”’ was the reply. 

‘But if he doesn’t?”’ 

‘Then we shall have to find the boy ourselves, 
just as we are going to find the prince! That is 
the next job, you understand.” | 

‘‘And geezle the man who stole him—that’s 
in the job, isn’t it?” 

“Nothing said about that, but I hope to get 
him and have the goods on him, too. When 
I present him to the chief he can do whatever 
he likes with him.”’ 

“But how are you going to get the goods on 
him?” asked Oliver. 

‘“‘T’ll manage that easily,” laughed Ned.‘‘ The 
first thing is to catch him. Now, Frank, you 
saw where Bradley went?” 


‘Think you can keep track of him for a short . 


time?”’ 
‘Can I?” -- You know it!” | 
‘Then take Dode with you, so as to be in 
communication with the camp, and follow him! 


-Don’t show yourself if you can help it, but if — 


220 THE BOY SCOUT CAMERA CLUB; OR 


| at J 
> le ee 
i ed 


{ 


CONFESSION OF A PHOTOGRAPH 22 


you are discovered keep busy with your camera. 
We are here only to take pictures, you know!” 

“So you don’t trust that chap, after all?” 
asked Frank. . 

“Yes, I trust him, but he won’t, betray the 
men he has been working with. In order to get 
the boy, he’ll have to go to the man I want.” 

“All right!” Frank laughed. ‘‘Come on, 
Dode! I might have known that Ned was next 
to his job. I’Il come back just before sunset 
to report, if not before. If you love me have 
a supper fit for six of us'ready for me!”’ 

The two boys started away, and Ned, Teddy . 
and Oliver went back to the pictures. After 
an hour or more Ned went down to the corral, 
as if looking after the mule. He saw no one on 
the way there, but when he reached the level 
spot, rich with June grass, he saw that it had 
had visitors during the day. 

The grass was beaten down flat behind a 
_boulder on the edge of the fertile spot, and there 
were cigarette stubs and half-burned matches 
scattered about. The lush grass still carried 
the odor of tobaceo, and the boy knew that the 
watcher had not been long absent from his post. 

He went back to the camp, and, much to the 
surprise of Teddy and Oliver, began packing. 

_ “What's doing now?” the boy asked. 


i \ 
222 THE BOY SCOUT CAMERA CLUB; OR 


“Why,’’ laughed Ned, ‘‘haven’t I agreed to 
get out of here Lomo ow or next day?” 

“Yes, but 

‘“We’re going to pack, anyway,” Ned said, 

“whether we leave or not! There are people 
watching every move we make, and I want to 
uonyey to them the idea that we are going at 
once.’ 

“Tf they are watching us,”’ Oliver suggested, 
“they doubtless saw Jack and Jimmie leave the 
camp.”’ 

“They undoubtedly did,’?’ Ned admitted. 

“And will follow them, I’m afraid.” 

“T’ve been wondering whether the boys got 
out of the hills in safety,’? Ned wenton. ‘They 
were well mounted, and should have been able 
to dodge the outlaws. Besides, Jimmie and 
Jack are, as the boys say on the Bowery, in- 
clined to be ‘foolish in the head—like a fox.’ So 
they are probably safely out by this time.” 

“But, still, I’m worrying about them!” 
Oliver replied. 


\ 


CONFESSION OF A PHOTOGRAPH 223 


CHAPTER XXIII 
RACING MOTORS ON THE WAY 


“Some day,”’ Jimmie said, as he urged Uncle 
Ike down an eastern slope of the Alleghany 
mountains, “I’m going to have this mule put 
in a book.” 

“Tf he keeps up his stealing,’”’ Jack declared, 
“he is more likely to be put in jail. That mule 
is certainly a bad actor.” 

“Huh!” grunted Jimmie. ‘“He’s got a sugar 

_ tooth, or he wouldn’t steal!’ 

The boys drew up when nearly to the valley 
through which runs the North Fork and looked 
over the landscape. There was another range 
of mountains straight ahead, and beyond that 
the valley of the South Branch, for which they 
were headed. 

“Looks like another climb and good-night!”’ 
Jack complained. ‘“‘And Ned wanted this sent 
to-night.. That’s a right smart. climb ahead of 
us,” he added. 

Jimmie coaxed Uncle Ike back to four feet 
again and patted him on the head before making 
_any reply. Then he pointed to the south. 

“Over there,” he said, “is the Virginia line. 
The ridge ahead of us does no cross that. I 
know because I looked up this section once when 


Pel 


224 THE BOY SCOUT CAMERA CLUB; OR 


Ned and I were thinking of running away for a 
rest.”’ 

“You always need a rest!’ grinned Jack. 
“Why don’t you make Uncle Ike stand still, 
like Dill Pickles, this old mountain ship of mine 
does?’’ he added. 

“Why do you call him Dill Pickles?” asked 
Jimmie. ‘‘He looks more like a razor-back 
with sails set in front.’’ 

“He’s Dill Pickles because he’s got a good 


disposition gone sour,’’ Jack explained. ‘‘He’s — 


just about shaken the life out of me now. 
Doesn’t look it, does he?”’ 

“Better call him Bones!”’ Jimmie advised. 
“As I was saying,” he went on, “the ridge 
ahead of us drops down this side of the Virginia 
line, and we can dodge a climb by going aroun’ 
At: 99 

“ And get lost!’’ Jack grumbled. 

“Lost—not. We follow down this valley— 
or up this valley, rather—until the ridge drops 
down. ‘Then we go straight east until we come 
to the South Branch. And there you are.” | 

“Here we go, then!’’ Jack shouted. “Set 
your sails and come along.”’ 

Uncle Ike wanted a test of speed and endur- 
ance right there, but Jimmie held him back. 
It might be that they would be obliged to return 

to the camp ie night. 


CONFESSION OF A PHOTOGRAPH 225 


They soon left the high places and wound 
among foothills. Below lay a fertile valley, 
with handsome and well-tilled fields. 

“We’re making a hit with these mules!” 
laughed Jimmie, as they passed along, the 
people staring at them from gates, doors, win- 
dows and fence-tops. “If these ladies and 
_ gentlemen ever see us again they’ll be sure to 
know us.” 

It is not a great distance from the place where 
they came to the river to the city they sought, 
and the ground was covered in a couple of hours. 
The sun was still shining when they passed 
through a busy street, certainly the center of 
observation. 

When they entered the telegraph office Jack 
took out the message and handed it to the clerk 
at the desk without looking at it. The clerk 
studied it a moment and asked: ‘Day rates? 
This seems to be a night letter.”’ 

The boys eyed each other keenly for a moment, 
and then Jimmie said: “I’d have it sent right 
off if I were you. Ned wouldn’t have said any- 
thing about its being a night letter if he had had 
any idea we’d get here so soon.”’ 

“Allright,” Jack said. “Sendit now. We'll 
wait for a little while to see if there’s an answer.”’ 

“Tt is in cipher,” the clerk said, “and will 
take some time to send.”’ 


ais 


. 
ea ? 
- ' 


226 THE BOY SCOUT CAMERA CLUB; OR 


“T never looked at it,”’ Jack eried. “T’ don’t 
even know where it is going.” 

“To the Secret Service chief, Washington,” 
said the clerk. “Are you boys out here on 
secret service business?” 

‘““We’re out here to take pictures,” Jimmie 
cut in. ‘We have nothing to do with that 
dispatch. It was given to us by an acquaint- 
ance to send out.” 

“He wanted to make sure it got into the right 
hands,” Jack said. ‘‘Will you call Washington 
and see if he’s there—the chief?”’ 

‘“You’ll have to pay for the message. ”’ 

Jack laid a banknote of large denomination 
down on the desk. 

‘* Ask for the chief,’’ he said, ‘‘and tell him to ~ 
wire any instructions he may have for the sender 
in cipher if he wants to, but to give any in- 
structions he may have for us about the delivery 
of the message in plain United States!” 

‘*Come back in half an hour,” said the clerk, 

“and I’ll probably have something for you. 
suppose this cipher message is an important 
one?”’ he added, suspiciously. ‘ 

— “Ton’t know what it is,” Jack answered, 
truthfully. 

The clerk evidently did not believe the boy 
for he stood at the desk gazing after him with a 
look of distrust on his face. The lads were no 
sooner out of the office than a thin, angular 


CONFESSION OF A PHOTOGRAPH 227 


gentleman, dusky of face and very black and 
bright of eye, entered and walked up to the 
clerk. | 

“‘T sent a message here by a couple of boys,”’ 
he said, “‘and I wish to withdraw it.”’ 

“Youll have to find the boys, then, and have 
them withdraw it,’’ replied the clerk. 

“But can’t I recall the dispatech—my own 
dispatch?’?’ demanded the other, exposing a 
$100 banknote in his palm. “It is worth some- 
thing to me to get it back.” 

The clerk was angry at the plain attempt at 
bribery, so he turned back to a table and took 
up the message the boys had left. 

“We have a message here,” he said, “ which 
may be recalled under proper conditions. Kind- 
ly tell me what your dispatch says.” 

“Which one did they file?”’ asked the other. 
“The one to Washington or the one to New 
York?”’ 

The clerk laid the paper back on the desk. 

“Give me the address you sent your message 
to at Washington,”’ he said. 

“It was the secretary of state,’’ was the reply. 

“And the message? Give me a few opening 
~ words.” 

“Read them!” snarled the other. ‘‘Can’t 
you read English?”’ 

“The message is in cipher!’’ said the clerk. 


228 THE BOY SCOUT CAMERA CLUB; OR 


“You also have the address wrong. You are 
evidently a fraud. Get out!” 

When the boys returned to the office in half 
an hour the clerk called them over to the desk 
at once and told them of what had taken place. 

“How did he ever follow us out without our 
seeing him?”’ asked Jimmie. 

‘“‘He must have shot through the air,” _ the 
other declared. 

“Are you sure you kept a good lookout?” | 
smiled the clerk. 

“Well, we looked about a good deal,” Jimmie 
admitted, “and I can’t say as I thought of 
being chased up. What did Washington say?” 

“You boys are to wait here until you receive 
instructions. The cipher message is now going 
on the wire.”’ 

The boys sat down in a restaurant not far from 
the telegraph office and ordered porterhouse — 
steaks, French potatoes, and all the side dishes 
that were on the menu. 

“We may have to ride to-night,’”’ Jack said, 
“and may as well prepare for it.” : 
“T don’t like the idea of our being followed 
here,”? Jimmie observed. ‘We'll be apt to 
come across that chap on the way back. The 
funny part of it all is that we never Beco 

there was a sleuth out after us!’ 


“We ought to have known,” Jack primbieds “4 


“Somehow everything has gone wrong with us. — 


f 


CONFESSION OF A PHOTOGRAPH — 229 


If we ride back in the night we’ll probably have. 


a skirmish. ’”’ 


After eating they went back to the telegraph 
office. The clerk was waiting for them, that 
being the usual hour for his supper. 

‘“‘Here’s your orders,’’ he said, with a smile, 
“right from the chief himself. He seems to 


_ know who you are all right!” 


Jack took the dispatch and read: 

‘Remain where you are until motor cars 
now on the way from Cumberland reach you. 
Our men say the cars can make good time clear 
to the foothills. The cipher message will 
arrive shortly. Be on your guard.” 

It was signed by the chief of the Secret Serv- 
ice department. 

“What do you know about that?” asked 
Jack, passing the message over to Jimmie. : 

“How far is it to Cumberland?” he asked of 


_ the clerk. 


“Something like eighty miles,’’ was the reply. 

“Are the roads good? Can a motor car 
make good time to-night.’ 

The river roads are fairly good. A fast car 


ought to get here in three hours. ”’ 


‘“T see that Chinese-looking guy that wanted , 
the message catching us if we go back in an 
automobile!”’ Jimmie laughed. 

“But. a motor ear,” Jack interrupted, 
an easy thing to wreck on a mountain.’ 


2.0 THE BOY SCOUT CAMERA CLUB; OR 


“What do you think was in that dispatch?’’ 
Jimmie asked of Jack, as they sat in the tele- 
graph office waiting. 

‘Something which brings out motor cars and 
secret service men,” Jack answered. “I guess 
it m de a hit at Washington.” , 

‘Perhaps he wired that he was going to bring 
the prince in!”’ laughed Jimmie. “Well, if he 
did, he’ll do it, and that’s all I’ve got to say 
about it.” - 

Twice that evening a dark face appeared at 
the window of the telegraph office and peered 
in at the boys. Each time the owner of the 
dark face hastened away after a short inspec- 
tion of the lads and conferred with two men in a 
dark little hotel office. 

Shortly after ten o’clock two great touring 
cars, long, lean racers, ran up to the curb in 
front of the telegraph office and stopped. The 
street was now well-nigh deserted, but what few 
people were still .astir gathered around the 
machines. 

There were three husky men in each machine, 
and in each car was room for one more person. 
Only one man alighted and entered the office. 
When he saw the boys waiting he beckoned to 
them. | 

“Got your cipher?” he asked, and Jack 
nodded. 


CONFESSION OF A PHOTOGRAPH 23} 


“Then come along. We'll get to the high 
climb before the moon comes up.”’ 

“Do you know the way?” asked the clerk. 

“Only from verbal description,’? was the 
reply, ‘‘but we can find it.” 

“T’m off duty,” the clerk said, “and I know 
every inch of the way. I was reared in the 
mountains west of the short ridge. I’d like a 
little adventure, too!”’ he laughed. 

“What about the mules?” asked Jimmie, 
determined that Uncle Ike should be cared for. 

“Get them into a barn, quick,” said the 
chief, sharply. ‘‘We must be off.” 

When Jimmie came back the clerk and Jack 
were crowded into one seat in the rear machine, 
while a vacant seat in the front car was waiting 
for him. The party was off with a snort of 
motors and faint cheers from the little crowd 
which had gathered. 

The river road was fairly good, and in an hour 
they were at the foothills, around the south 
end of the short ridge. ‘The driver drew up 
there, and in the clear air, from the north came 
the sound of galloping horses. 

“Get out and under cover, boys!’’ the chief 
commanded. — 


di 


232 THE BOY SCOUT CAMERA CLUB; OR 


CHAPTER XXIV 


THE MAN-TRAP IS SET 


Ned, Oliver and Teddy remained in camp all 


the afternoon—waiting. They were not, of 
course, anticipating the immediate return of 
Jack and Jimmie, but they were looking every 
moment, after a couple of hours had passed, for 
some signs of the boys who had been sent out 
in the wake of Bradley. 

“T’ll bet a cookie,’’ Teddy exclaimed, as the 
sun set over the ridge to the west, “‘that Frank 
and Dode have bumped into something hard!”’ 

“T may have made a mistake in not going 
on that trip myself,’’ Ned mused, ‘‘but I hadan 
idea there would be business for me at the camp. 


[I don’t know what to make of this lack of 


attention on the part of our enemies!” 


“It may be,” Oliver suggested, “‘that they. 


have taken alarm and ducked with the prince.” 

“That is just what I fear,’’ Ned answered. 
“It will spoil all my plans if they move now; 
still, I admit that they’ve had enough un- 
pleasant experiences here to make them long for 
a quieter retreat!” 


The boys prepared supper, taking pains to 
provide enough food for Frank and Dode, but 


) 


: 


CONFESSION OF A PHOTOGRAPH 233 


they did not come. The meal over, Ned made. 
ready for a trip down the mountain. 

“Tm going to Chimney rock,”’ he said to the 
boys. ‘I should like to have one of you with 
me, but two ought to remain here. I’m going 
to take some rockets with me. If I do not 
return before midnight, one of you advance 
along the summit to the south, provided with 
rockets. If one of my rockets is seen, the 
watcher must send one up to notify the boy 
in camp. Then both must make a run for 
Chimney rock, traveling so as to come upon it 
from the up-hill side. Is that clear?”’ 

_ “Perfectly,’”’ Oliver declared. ‘You are going 
to bring this prince back with you?”’ 

“Perhaps!’’ laughed Ned. “I may have to 
bring Frank and Dode back with me!”’ 

There was only the light of the stars when 
Ned reached the vicinity of Chimney rock, 
coming in from the slope to the north and moving 
with extreme caution. There was a dull glow 
in the dip back of the rock, the glow of coals 
nearly burned out. 

The men who had captured Jimmie at the 
cave of the counterfeiters had fled before the 
shooting, and Ned had no idea that they had 
returned, or would return. Any fire built by 
them would have long since turned to ashes. © 

“The party having direct charge of the 


234 THE BOY SCOUT CAMERA CLUB; OR 


prince has been here,”’ the boy mused, “‘though 
why they should come here is a puzzle to me, as 
they have, or had a camp of their own not far 
away. Still, the theory of hiding in a place 
which has been searched is an old one, and these 
fellows may have adopted it. | 
“They certainly adopted a theory something 


like it,” the lad thought, as he watched the — 


dying embers from a distance—from the secure 
shadow, if the stars may be said to have cast a 
shadow that night, of a great rock—‘when 
they decided to remain here after the disguise 
of the widow’s grandson had been discovered. 


They took it for granted that no one would look 


for the real prince where the disguised one had 
been found! They might better have taken 
him away!’ 

Ned knew very well that the men having 
charge of the abducted boy had hidden farther 
up the slope. His idea was that at the time the 
pictures were taken the men in charge were 
watching the two who had ran away. 


From what Bradley had said, it was not likely 


that he, Bradley, had been permitted to associate 
with the, actual custodians of the stolen lad. 
This had been the main source of his complaints. 

Ned believed that a portion, at least, of the 


men sent into the hills as custodians of the © 


prince had followed Jack and Jimmie out 


CONFESSION OF A PHOTOGRAPH 235 


While trembling for the safety of the two boys, 
Ned had figured on cutting the force of the 
enemy in two before making an attempt to seize 
the little prisoner. 

_Even now, he figured, the force left on the 
eround had been again divided, for he was 
positive that the camp was being watched. 
For this reason he had caused the packing to be 
done, thus giving the impression that his party 
was going out at once. 

The boy lay in the dark spot under the boulder 
for a long time, watching, listening, for some 
indication of human life in that vicinity. He 
had a half notion that Bradley would head that 
way, and that the boys would follow him. 

“Tf Bradley does come here,”’ Ned thought, 
“my trap will besetright! ‘That is, if the dusky 
little chap from over the sea has not been taken 
away. If he has, the trap will not serve; still, I 
shall be able to console myself with the thought 
that it was at least well set!”’ 

Every clue the boy had gained pointed to the 
spot where he lay. That had undoubtedly been 
the point of communication between the leader 
and his subordinates—with Bradley and the 
men who had taken Jimmie prisoner. 

“That was rather clever,’”? Ned mused, “tak- 
Ing the boy while at the cave of the counterfeiters 
in order to give the impression that the coiners 
Hed seized him!” 


236 THE BOY SCOUT CAMERA CLUB; OR 


Ned realized, too, that the capture of the 
grandson just at that time had been a master 
stroke on the part of the conspirators. The 
_ lad would have talked too much when he be- 
came satisfied that he was safe from all coercion. 

Ned lay in his hiding place for what appeared 
to him to be a long time before he heard any- 
thing to indicate that his man-trap had been 
set in the right spot. Then the voice he heard 
caused him to spring quickly up to his feet. It 
was the low, soft, plaintive voice of Mary 
Brady. 

“T haven’t seen anything here I could talk 
about,”’ the old lady was saying. “I wouldn’t 
think of betraying anyone who put my boy in 
my arms. I’ve seen him with you—I’ve been 
waiting about here for a long time. Bring him 
out to me and f ‘ll go home and never trouble 
you any more.’ 

“Now,” thought Ned, “how did the old lady 
manage to find the boy heres 

“You shouldn’t have come here,” a 10% 
well-modulated masculine voice said. “You 
have put your own life and the life of the boy 
in danger by so doing. How long had you been 
watching and Peter before I saw you?” 

“A long, long time.’ 

“And you heard much of what was said?” 


9) 


CONFESSION OF A PHOTOGRAPH 237 


“T heard a good many words, but I don’t 
- remember now what they meant.” | 

The voices came clearly from farther up the 
slope, and a little to the south. The figures of 
the speakers could not be seen by the watcher. 

“Come up to the camp,”’ the masculine voice 
said, presently. ‘‘I’ll turn the boy over to you, 
but you can’t go back to your cabin to-night.” 

“Are you going to keep me here against my 
will?” asked the trembling old voiee. 

“You have seen and heard too much,” was 
the almost brutal rejoinder. 

There was a rattle of pebbles as footsteps 
moved along the rocky surface of the slope. 
From above came the shrill ery of a child. 

“‘T don’t know of any better time to move up 
and take a peep at the camp of the man who 
crossed the sea to steal a child,’’ Ned mused. 
“T wish Frank and Dode would come, but if 
they don’t I’ll have to take chances on going 
alone.”’ 

_ Keeping those in front of him as guides, Ned 
crept along the slope. More than once a loose 
pebble rolled with a great noise from under his 
feet, but those ahead seemed to pay no attention 
to these evidences of pursuit. 
_ When, perhaps, two hundred paces up the 
slope the sounds above the boy ceased. The 
night was still, save for the rustling and creeping 


238 THE BOY SCOUT CAMERA CLUB; OR _ 


of the creatures of the air and the forest. For 


a long time not a sound indicative of the presence - 


of human life was heard, then a woman’s cry _ 


of fright came from above. 
Ned was about to hasten ‘forward whee a 
voice came to his ears from the darkness. 


“We can’t permit either of them to leave!’ 


the low, well-modulated voice he had heard 
before that night said. “Even if we get away 
with the prince, their stories would ruin us. 
There is no knowing how soon the gabblings 
of the old woman might reach the ears of the 
adherents of the prince.” 

“Then you propose 

“Nothing that will not come to them in due 
course of time! They can go to sleep in the 
snug inner room and never wake again. They 


will not know when the change comes. They © 


will sleep forever in their mountain tomb.” 

“TI am opposed to murder,’ said another 
voice, harsher, more decisive. 

‘And so the trap was well set!’’ mused Ned. 
“The princeling is still here! Well, the battle 
may not bring victory to me, but I will at least 
know that I planned it right, aba on the best 
information at hand.” 

It was plain, from what the first speaker had 


said, that the camp of the conspirators was in 


a cave, for he had spoken of a snug inner room. 


- 


CONFESSION OF'A PHOTOGRAPH 239 


The entrance to this cave was undoubtedly 
closely guarded. 

| The boy crept along cautiously.. The slope 
- was. steep, with here and there a ledge which 
had to be surmounted or circled, always at great 
risk. In a few hours the moon would be up, 
and then the work he had before him would be 
more difficult. 

“JT must get into the cave before the moon 
rises!” he thought. “But how?” 

When he came to the precipice in the side of 
the mountain from which the cave opened, he 
saw the black spot which marked the entrance. 
It was not large, and, close in front, sitting with 
his back against the rock, was a guard! 

Ned lay down to wait. When the moon rose 
it would cast the shadow of the mountain on 
that spot. For afew hours more he might wait 
for his chance. 

Directly he heard a call which brought him 
to an alert attitude in an instant. It was the 
eall of the wolf pack, sharp, vicious, warning! 

There was a movement at-the mouth of the 
cave, and a quick light showed for only a second. 
_ Then came a sound of footsteps negotiating the 
gravelly slope. 

Ned dropped back to the west. The call had 
come from that direction. It might have been 
uttered either by Frank or by one of the boys 
ahs at the camp. 


240 THE BOY SCOUT CAMERA CLUB; OR 


Presently the snarl was heard in a dark crevice 
toward which the boy was descending. Ned 


dropped down faster then, and soon heard 


Frank’s voice. 

‘“‘ Are you alone?’’ he asked. 

“Yes; and you?”’ 

iS Bhadlee and Dode are here. 

Bradley moved forward and took Ned by 
the arm. 

“Be careful!’ he warned. ‘Those men would 


toss dynamite down here and take their own 


risk of death if they knew.” 

“We’ve had a run for our money!” Frank 
panted. ‘‘We’ve been everywhere. The cabin 
is deserted, and the lower camp and the counter- 
feiter cave are bare of life. Bradley caught us 
following him, and so we joined with him in 
his search for Mike III.” 

“‘Mike ITI.,’’ Ned answered, ‘‘is up there in 
the cave with the abductors, and Mrs. Brady is 
with him. We’ve got to act quickly.” 

‘They ’ll be murdered!’’ Bradley whispered. 
“What can we do?” 

‘“‘They’ll be spared for a short time,” Ned 
answered, ‘‘but we must be on the move.” 


: 


CONFESSION OF A PHOTOGRAPH 24! 


CHAPTER XXV 
THE CONFESSION OF A PHOTOGRAPH 


*‘There’s a ravine off to the right where the 
machines may be hidden,”’ the clerk said, when 
the racing automobiles bound at the fast of 
the hills. 

“Show the way, ie quick,” hastily com- 
manded the leader. “We want to see what sort 
of people they are who ride at break-neck speed 
in the darkness. ”’ 

The machines were driven into the ravine 
referred to, and the secret service men and the 
boys secreted themselves in a clump of under- 
growth close to the roadside. The horsemen 
came on swiftly, and would have passed only 

that the detectives closed in about them, three 
in front and three in the rear. 

“What is the meaning of this?’’ demanded 
the dark little man who had shown himself at 
the telegraph office. 

Lhe two men with him whispered together but 
said nothing in the way of protest. 

“Dismount!’’ ordered the leader. 

The men hesitated, and a bullet cut the air 
within a fraction of an inch of the right ear of 
the leader. There was now no delay in reaching 
the ground. | 


\ 


#42 THE BOY SCOUT CAMERA CLUB; OR 


“You shall pay for this!’’ shouted the little 
dark man. 

“Of course,’’ laughed the iseden 

Jimmie pulled at the sleeve of the chief. 


“That is one of the men I saay in the moun- 


tains,”’ he declared. ‘He is the second one in 
command, as far as I could determine.”’ 

“What does the boy say?”’ demanded the 
other. 


‘What are you doing here?”’ asked the chief, — 


impatiently. 

“We are hunting in the hills. age 

“Hunting at this season?”’ 

‘Hunting and resting. Please now do y we go 
on? bP] 

The chief made a significant motion, and before 
the three men knew what was going on they were 
securely handcuffed. They roared at their cap- 
tors and at each other in a foreign language 
for a moment and then sat down stolidly at the 
side of the road. 


“You, Jerry, and you, Sam, take them back 


to the town and lock them up,” ordered the 
chief. ‘‘Perhaps you, Charley, would better 


go with them. Ride and make them walk!’ 


“Locked up!’ shouted the dark little man. 
“What for?” 
“Treason to your country, 


~ reply. 


9) 


was the short 


CONFESSION OF A PHOTOGRAPH 243 


For a moment there was no word spoken, 

then the three men arose to their feet and ap- 
proached the chief, standing with a hand on his 
revolver. 

“There is money,” one of the men said. 
“Plenty of money.”’ 

“Cut that out!’’ ordered the chief, curtly. 

“Not in the thousands!” the other went ‘on. 
“Tn the millions!” 

“Tf they renew this proposition on the way 
- in,” ordered the chief, “‘gag them!”’ 

In a moment the three men were away with 
their prisoners, the sound of the horses’ feet 
dying away in soft echoes from the hills. 

Then the chief turned to the clerk. 

‘““Does our auto ride end here?” he asked. 

The clerk shook his head. 

“A few rods further on,’’ he said, ‘‘ you can 
turn into the bed of a half dry stream which runs 

‘out of the hills almost at the rocky wall of the 
mountain itself.’’ 

“And the bottom of the stream?” asked the 
~ chief. 

“Sand and fine gravel. The grade is not 
steep.” ; 

“And how far from the summit shall we be 
when we get to the end of the water route?”’ 
asked the chief. ; 

“Not more than three miles, but it is a stiff 
climb.” | 


244 THE BOY SCOUT CAMERA CLUB; OR 


“Get under way then,’ was the order, and 
the motors sang their tune in the hills once 
more. 

‘“What time does the moon rise?” the chief 
asked, after a few moments of splashing in the 
bed of the stream, which at that season of the 
year was not more than three inches deep, 
except in places, which were avoided. 

“‘ About twelve,’’ was the reply. 

“We must be well up the hill before that,” 
the chief declared. 

When they came to the end of the water course 
the machines were hidden in a canyon not far 
away and the men and the boys proceeded on up 
the slope. | 

In the meantime Ned and those with him were 
listening for the sound of footsteps in their im- 


mediate vicinity. The call of the pack had 


aroused the suspicions of the guard, and it was 
evident that he had left his place at the entrance 
of the cave to learn the meaning of it. 

After a brief wait Ned heard the sound he was 


listening for and clutched Frank eagerly by the 


arm | 
‘Move away to the right and repeat the wolf 


call, only lower,’”’ he directed. ‘‘When you have 


ABS so dodge back here—quick! The guard 
may shoot!’? 


“What are you going to do?” whispered 


CONFESSION OF A PHOTOGRAPH 245 


Bradley. “Be careful! Those Orientals are 
dangerous people to handle! Be careful!” 

“T guess we won’t start anything we can’t 
finish,’”’ Frank grinned. 

The boy did as requested, and Ned moved up 
the slope. Bradley sat watching the dim figures 
disappear and wondered what sort of company 
he had fallen into. 


_. When the call of the pack came from the spot 


indicated by Ned, there was a rush of footsteps. 


_ The guard evidently, was advancing toward the 


suspicious sound. 
The next event was so sudden, so unexpected, 
so startling, that Bradley almost held his 
breath for an instant. There was a choking 
gurgle, a blow, and a noise of falling bodies. 
Then Ned and the guard rolled into the little 
dip where the others were hiding. 

Frank, back by this time, threw himself on the 
struggling mass and the guard was soon hand- 
cuffed and gagged. Then Frank sat back and 
laughed until Dode tried to gag him with a 
~ handkerchief. 

“Come!” Ned whispered, giving the boy a 
poke in the ribs. ‘“‘We’re going into the cave 
now! Are you going, Bradley?’ he added, 
turning to the blonde fellow. 

“Tf you forget what took place at the elub- 
room in New York, I'll rit 


246 THE BOY SCOUT CAMERA CLUB; OR 


‘““You’re on!’’ whispered Ned. ‘“ Now—quick 
and cautious!” 


The old lady, sitting dejectedly with her — 


grandson in her arms, in a rough cave-room, 
saw the boys creeping forward. Ned held up a 
warning hand and waited. The old lady, evi- 
dently knowing what was wanted, pointed to a 
small opening to the south. 

“They are in there, two of them, asleep!” 
she whispered a moment later, when Ned had 
reached her side. ‘‘The others are away!” 

“And the other boy?” asked Ned, anxiously. 

“He is with them,” was the gratifying reply. 

It was Frank who accompanied Ned into the 
sleeping chamber where the heads of the con- 
spiracy lay asleep. It was Frank who snapped 
the manacles on the wrist of the one who was 
lying across the entrance as a guard. 

The supreme head of the wicked conspiracy 
struggled, half awake, as Ned slipped the hand- 
cuffs on and searched him for weapons. But it 
was all over in a moment, much to the amaze- 
ment of Bradley, who, attracted by a gleam of 
light, looked through the low opening to see the 
searchlights of the Boy Scouts lighting up two 
angry faces. The prince—the real prince this 
time!—was asleep on a costly rug not far away. 


- Jiater, when awakened, his attention was at once 


= | = os S nt 
ty a eee ae 
og FET Ge 
ae eee oe, 


CONFESSION OF A PHOTOGRAPH 247 


attracted to Mike III., who made a pretty good 
playfellow for him for the time being. 

For there was little sleep in the Boy Scout 
Camera Club camp that night. When the boys, 
the old lady, the prince and the others came out 
of the cave, just as the moon was showing above 
the rim of the world, a rocket was mounting the 
sky to the north. 

“One of the boys!’ Ned exclaimed. ‘I 
reckon something is wrong there!”’ 

But nothing was wrong there—nothing at all, 
so far as the boys were concerned. Oliver and 
‘Teddy had succeeded in capturing the man who 
. was watching the camp. Pretending to fall 
asleep by the fire, they had lain in wait for the 
spy and captured him just as he was in the act 
of setting fire to the tent. 

Dode accompanied Mrs. Brady and her grand- 
son to the cabin, where, at her request, he re- 
meined a welcome guest for many days. 

When the stories of the night had been told 
Jack, Jimmie, and the three secret service men 
made their appearance, puffing from their long 
climb. ‘Then new stories had to be told, and 
the prince was by no means slow in telling of his 
adventures in the hills. 

“The boy lies!” the leader of the conspirators 
declared. “I had nothing to do with the boy! 
I was not here when he was brought in. Icame 


248 THE BOY SCOUT CAMERA CLUB; OR 


on separate business with one of the men already 
here, and did not know of the lad’s presence here 
until Verne and even then I did not know whe 
he was.’ 

“ All the others will swear to that,’’ Bradley 
said, “‘in an attempt to save the man’s life by 
sacrificing their own.”’ 

“Never mind,”’ Ned said, “you can testify 
to his interest in the abduction.” 

“T don’t know a thing about it,”’ was the 
reply. “I was hired to watch you in New York, 
and to bring Mike III. in here. I never saw this 
man while here—never saw the prince. I don’t 
even know how they got 1 Mike III. from his 
nas _ they kept me in ignorance of all their 
moves. ’ 

Hatt laughed Ned, ‘then we’ll fall back 
on the confession that has been made.”’ 

“Confession!’’ repeated the others. ‘“‘Who 
has confessed?’’ 

“The photograph!’’ smiled Ned, taking out 
the two pictures in which the man and the 
prince were shown. “The pictures show this 
man in the company of the prince, and Bie 
prince will tell the rest. This closes the case.’ 

“When are you going out?” asked the chief of 
the secret service men. 


“Why,” replied Ned, “I promised the out- | 


CONFESSION OF A PHOTOGRAPH 249 


| 


laws that I would get away to-morrow morning. 
I’m going to keep my word!”’ 

*“You’d better go out with us and travel in 
the machines, then,” said the other. 

“And leave Uncle Ike?’’ demanded Jimmie. 
“Not for me! I’m going to ride that blessed 
mule to Cumberland, and ship him to New 
York.” 

And he actually did! While the others were 
riding at their ease in the racers, Jimmie was 
urging his mule along the country road, alighting 
now and then to let him thrust a att muzzle 
into a pocket in quest of sugar. 

At Cumberland Ned met Mike II., who was 
going in to spend a long time with his mother 
and the boy. He had sent the son in by a 
Washington friend, he said! That was all! 
Dode, he said, would be asked to remain there 
permanently. No one even knew how much 
the father knew of the trick to be played with 
his son. 

And so, save for a few raveled ends, the 
story of the Boy Scout Camera Club is told. 

Bradley was given a position by Oliver’s 
father, and became very friendly with the boys. 
He insists to this day that he did not know about 
the abduction of the prince. 

The conspirators were turned over to their 
own government, and there the record ends, 


\ ' 


t 


ae | 
< ehobeh none of them was ever ale 
again! — pit ial 


- farther can aK so by vein the neke book o 
this series, entitled: “The Boy Scout os ‘ 
trician; or, the Hidden Dynamo.” ee us : 


es be 


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ARMY BOYS SERIES 


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2.—Uncle Sam’s Navy Boys Afloat, or, The Raid Along the 
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OVER THERE SERIES 


By Capt. Geo. H. Ralphson 


1.—Overthere With the Marines at Chateau Thierry. 
2.—Overthere With the Canadians at Vimy Ridge. 
3.—Overthere With the Doughboys at St. Mihiel. 
4.—Overthere With Pershing’s Heroes at Cantigny. 


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Jack Harkaway’s School Days 
Jack Harkaway After School Days 
Jack Harkaway Afloat and Ashore 
Jack Harkaway at Oxford 
Jack Harkaway’s Adventures at Oxford 
Jack Harkaway Among the Brigands of Italy 
Jack Harkaway’s Escape From the Brigands 

of Italy 
Jack Harkaway’s Adventures Around the World 
Jack Fiarkaway in America and Cuba 
10 Jack Warkaway’s Adventures in China 
ii Jack Harkaway’s Adventures in Greece 
12 Jack Harkaway’s Escape From the Brigands 

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13. Jack Harkaways Adventures in Australia 
14 Jack Harkaway and His Boy Tinker 
15 Jack Harkaway’s Boy Tinker Among the Turks 


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2 Andy Gordon 31. Paul, the Peddler 
8 Andy Grant’s Pluck 32 Phil, the Fiddler 
4 Bob Burton 33 Ralph Raymecnd’s Heir 
5 Bound to Rise 34 Risen from the Ranks 
6 Brave and Bold 35 Sam’s Chance 
7 Cash Boy, The 86 Shifting for Himself 
8 Charlie Codman’s Cruise 27 Sink or Swim 
9 Chester Rand 38 Slow and Sure 
10 Cousin’s Conspiracy, A 89 Store Boy, The 
11 Do and Dare 40 Strive and Succeed 
12 Driven From Home 41 Strong and Steady 
13 Erie Train Boy 42 Struggling Upward 
14- Facing the World < 43 Telegraph Boy, The 
15 Five Hundred Dollars 44 Tin Box, The 
16 Frank’s Campaign 45 Tom, the Boot Black 
17 Grit; The Young Boatman 46 Tony, the Tramp 
18 Herbert Carter’s Legacy 47 Try and Trust 
19 Hector’s Inheritance " 48 Wait and Hope 
20 Helping Himself 49 Walter Sherwood’s 
21 Ina New World Probation 
22 Jack’s Ward 50 Wren Winter’s Triumph 
23 Jed, the Poor House Boy 51 Young Aeropat 
24 Joe’s Luck 52 Young Adventurer, The 
25 Julius, the Street Boy 53 Young Explorer 
26 Luke Walton 54 Young Miner 
27 Making His Way 55 Young Musician 
28 Mark Mason’s Victory 56 Young Outlaw 
29 Only an Irish Boy 57 Young Salesman 


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BOY SCOUT SERIES 
« By oe a 
G. HARVEY RALPHSON, of the Black Bear Patrol. 


1.—Boy Scouts in Mexico; or, On Guard With Uncle Sam. 
2.—Boy Scouts in the Canal Zone; or, Lhe Plot Against Uncle Sam. 
3.—Boy Scouts in the Philippines; or, The Key to the Treaty Box. 
4.—Boy Scouts in the Northwest; or, Fighting Forest Fires. me” 
5.—Boy pny in a Motor Boat; or, Adventures on the Columbia af 
ver. 
6.—Boy Scouts in an Airship; or, The Warning from the Sky. 
7.—Boy Scouts in a Submarine; or, Searching an Ocean Floor. 
8.—Boy Scouts on Motorcycles; or, With the Flying Squadron. 
9.—Boy Scouts Beyond the Arctic Circle; or, The Lost Expedition. 
~10.—Boy Scout Camera Club; or, The Confessions of a Photograph. 
sl 1.—Boy Scout Electricians; or, The Hidden Dynamo. ee 
“~12.—Boy Scouts in California; or, The Flag on the Cliff, ; 
13.—Boy Scouts on Hudson Bay; or, The Disappearing Fleet. 
14.—Boy Scouts in Death Valley; or, The City in the Sky. 
15.—Boy Scouts on the Open Plains; or, The Round-up not Ordered. . 
16.—Boy Scoutsin Southern Waters: or, the Spanish Treasure Chest 
1{7.—Boy Scouts in Belgium; or, Under Fire in Flanders 
¥8.—Boy Scouts in the North Sea; or, the Proibien: of P13 
i9.—Boy Scouth . 
20.—Boy Scouts with the ‘cee or, Poland Roeapeiral 


THE MOTORCYCLE CHUMS SERIES a] 

By co ss : 

Andrew Carey Lincoln Ad 

b.—Motorcycle Chums in the Land of the Sky; or, Thrilling Adven- 


ventures on the Carolina Border. 
2.—Motorcycle Chums in New England; or, The Mount Holyoke 


Pe eT 


rage ee ee 


Pome rn Lee 


Adventure. 
3.—Motorcycle Chums on the Sante Fé Trail; or, The Key to the a 
Treaty Box. é 
4. ree Chums in Yellowstone Park; or, Lending a Helping — ; q 
an 
5.—Motorcycle Chums in the Adirondacks; or, The Search for the q 
Lost Pacemaker. a 
6.—Motorcycle Chums Storm Bound; oF; The Strange Adventures 4 


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MOTOR BOAT BOYS SERIES 
By Louis Arundel 


1.—The Motor Club’s Cruise Down the Mississippi; or, The Dash 
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2.—The Motor Club on the St. Lawrence River; or, Adventures 
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3.—The Motor Club on the Great Lakes; or, Exploring the Mystic 
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4.—Motor Boat Boys Among the Florida Keys; or, The Struggle for 
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By John Luther Langworthy 


_ {.—The Bird Boys; or, The Young Sky Pilots’ First Air Voyage. 


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3.—The Bird Boys Among the Clouds; or, Young Aviators in @ 


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’ 4.—Bird Boys’ Flight; or, A Hydroplane Round-up. 


SS hae Aeroplane Wonder; or, Young Aviators on a Cattle 
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CANOE AND CAMPFIRE SERIES 
By St. George Rathborne 


§.—Canoe Mates in Canada; or, Three Boys Afloat on the Sase 
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2.—Young Fur Takers; or, Traps and Trails in the Wilderness. 
3.—The House Boat Boys; or, Drifting Down to the Sunny South. 
4.—Chums in Dixie; or, The Strange Cruise in the Motor Boat. 
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{| Among Malay Pirates 24 Lion of St. Mark | 
2 Bonnie Prince Charlie 25 Lion of the North 

3 Boy Knight, The 26 Lost Heir, The 

4 Bravest of the Brave 27 Maori and Settler » 

5 By England’s Aid : er 

6 By Pike and Dyke 28 One of the 28th 

7 By Right of Conquest 29 Orange and Green 

8 By Sheer Pluck 30 Out on the Pampas 

9 Captain Bayley’s Heir 31 Queen’s Cup, The 
10 Cat of Bubastes 32 Rujub, the Faggler 
11 Col. Thovndyke’s Secret 33 St. George for England 
12 Cornet of Horse, The 34 Sturdy and Strong 
13 Dragon and the Raven 35 Through the Fray 

14 Facing Death 36 True to the Old Flag 
15 Final Reckoning, A 37 Under Drake’s Flag 
16 For Name and Pans 38 With Clive in India 
17 Forthe Temple 39 With Lee in Virginia 
18 Friends, Though Divided 40 With Wolfe in Canada 
19 Golden Canon 4l Young Buglers, The 
20 In Freedom’s Cause 42 Young Carthaginians 
21 Inthe Reign of Terror 43 Young Colonists, The 
22 In Times of Peril 44 Young Franc-Tireurs 
23 Jack Archer 45 Young Midshipman 


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THE YOUNG SPORTSMAN’S SERIES 
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f SEA AND LAND SERIES 
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‘Oscar the Naval Cadet..................... Capt. Ralph Bonehilf 


See LOT HLOVGIB . c.6. 2. cece eet cece Victor St. Clare 
MTUOUME SINULOICT ©, 6. 5.5 cu ces cee ee eae es William Dalton 
RU gid de ss wis vse ee sw olp via en ves Allen Erie 


ADVENTURE AND JUNGLE SERIES 
A large, well printed, attractive edition. 


ES ee a Wm, Murray Grayden 
Casket of Diamonds................... ... Oliver Optic 

The Boy Railroader ..... PE EEE b 6:4 WC yj Matthew White, Jr. 
Treasure of South Lake Farm.............. W. Bert Foster 


YOUNG HUNTERS SERIES 
By Capt. Raiph Bonehill 
Gun and Sled; or, The Young Hunters of Snow Top Island. 
Young Hunters in Porto Rico; or, The Search for a Lost Treasure. 
Two Young Crusoes; by C. W. Phillips. 
Through Apache Land; or, Ned in the Mountains; by Lieut. R. H. 
_ Tayne. BRIGHT AND BOLD SERIES 
ue By Arthur M. Winfield 
Poor but Plucky; or, The Mystery of a Flood. 
School Days of Fred Harley; or, Rivals for All Honors. 
By Pluck, not Luck; or, Dan Granbury’s Struggle to Rise. 
The Missing Tin Box; or, Hal Carson’s Remarkable City Adventure, 
COLLEGE LIBRARY FOR BOYS 
By Archdeacon Farrar 
Julian Home; or, A Tale of College Life. 
St. Winifred’s; or, The World of School. 


For sale by all booksellers, or sent postpaid on receipt of 50 cents. 
a M. A. DONOHUE & CO. 
705~423 So. Dearborn Street, Chicago 


# Complete Editions and you will get the best for the least money 


{ TURILLING, INTERESTING, {INSTRUCTIVE 


| BOOKS | i 
| ByHARRY 
CASTLEMON 


No boy’s library is complete unless it contains all of 
the books by that charming, delightful writer of boys’ 
stories of adventure, Harry CastTLEmoN. The follow- 
ing are the titles, uniform in size, style and binding: 


Boy Trapper, The 

Frank the Young Naturalist 
Frank in the Woods 

Frank on the Lower Misgiastoe 
Frank on a Gunboat 

Frank Before Vicksburg 

Frank on the Prairie 

Frank at Don Carlos Ranch 

: The First Capture 

| 10 Struggle for a Fortune, A 

11 Winged Arrows Medicine 


WO GO STEN OU im Ge bo et 


All of the above books may be had at the store where 
this book was bought, or will be sent postage prepaid 
at 75c each, by the publishers. 


M. A. DONOHUE & CO., 
| 701-727 S. Dearborn Street, CHICAGO 


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